various spellings of murtagh

[lisamc10]

any body know how murtagh would of been spelt late 1800s early 1900s ie murtha or murtaugh

thanks.

[aghadowey]

It's only fairly recently that spelling has been uniform and you can get all sorts of variation of surnames. If it's a search engine that allows wild cards it can be easier. Other sites (such as www.familysearch.org) will give certain variations when you ask for a particular name (not always close to the name you want though).

http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Murtagh

[lisamc10]

thank you for replying,was a little confused as to why the spelling of murtha was also included.i had no idea it could be spelt various ways.

[diplodicus]

My Murtha ancestors arrived in England from Dundalk, Co Louth. Even the parish registers showed both spelling within a timespan of twenty years between 1830 and 1850.

I think it helps sometimes if you try and pronouce the name in the local accent and then "spell what you hear"? After all, that is what happened when a "stranger" had to transcribe a name on behalf of someone who could neither read nor write.

It would help explain how the "th" could become a "t" in parts of Ireland.

Malcolm

[lisamc10]

    oh yes i never even looked at it like that.

 i think if id never heard of the name before id of spelt it murta.

  thanks for that.

[sarahmurtagh]

My ancestor's last name was Murtagh and when they arrived in America it was changed to Murta.

[aghadowey]

My ancestor's last name was Murtagh and when they arrived in America it was changed to Murta.

Not quite... as can be seen by the reply to your Murtagh topic on Armagh board 

Hello and welcome.

There are baptism records for children with the same parents names, here is one for Sarah

http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000633281#page/149/mode/1up

Her Godparents are Chas. Murphy and Susan Murtagh so that may help you.

Others are James Murta 13 September 1857 and John Murtagh 13 October 1861

Regards
Heywood

[familysearch2011]

I have Margaret Murtha marrying Thomas Hart St Andrews RC Church, Westland Row, 25 November 1864