Why change the name?

[jason 20]

Hi all,

As i'm sure is the same with many genealogists, whilst studying a particular surname and going back through the centuries, we sometimes stumble across spelling variations. Davis, Davies or Dennis, Dennies, but whilst studying my own family it appears that unanimously they all change the spelling of their surname at the same time, and this has perplexed me for several years, so I thought i'd give some background into the family and see if anyone may have any idea at all as to why this may happen.

The family in question are the Wileman's of Measham, they first settled in the village pre-records and have had members of the family in Measham from the mid 1500's to present day where many still reside. From the mid 1500's all the way through the 1600's and 1700's they were the Wildman's, every baptism, marriage and burial was Wildman and there was lots of them! between the years 1801 -  1825 there were 136 Wildman / Wileman children baptized in the small village, and from the late 1700's all the way through the 1800's there was dozens of individual families, totalling anywhere between 1-200 people in the village with that common surname all linked in some way to the first occupants with the name, and then not over a period of time but all at once it changed, in 1813 they stopped calling themselves, recording themselves as Wildman and instead all changed to Wileman! at first i thought maybe the priest/clergymen misheard them when the names were given, but to miss hear several hundred inhabitants of the village i dismissed this, and taking the D out completely reshaped the pronunciation of the name and it's meaning! so any ideas .... why 

[Kiltpin]

Regards

Chas

[Maiden Stone]

Could they read and write?
Was there a change of curate or parish clerk at time of spelling change? 1813 is around the time of introduction of standard style marriage registers. Someone else will know more.

Perhaps they ceased being wildmen and were tamed. Maybe they tired of remarks about their surname.

[jason 20]

I thought about the change in Parish Clerk idea, but in the end concluded that would one parish clerk have the ability to alter not just the spelling, but the pronunciation of over 100 inhabitants of a village, after all a Parish Clerk could change the spelling from Wildman to Wyldman or such like and it would make no difference to the pronunciation, but removing the D completely changes the name, not just in spelling but in the way it is spoken. Also in the census records 1841 - 1911 all of the family are listed as Wileman, it's unlikely the enumerators spelled it wrong too?

I also thought maybe one of them committed a hideous crime, and they all changed their name to disassociate themselves from the criminal, several possibilities have gone through my head, if it were 1 or 2 of them out of a hundred or so then it could be explained, but for all of them to do it all in 1813 makes me think something bigger happened. As far as i know a few were literate. 

[iolaus]

I could easily see wildman being pronounced without the D

[jfchaly]

What version of surname is used on headstones if any survive.
I have family members whose baptism / marriage surnames differ slightly from their headstones.
In my case the headstone has correct spelling of surname.
Did anyone keep the old version of the surname ?

Jfch

[Maiden Stone]

Did any of them sign their name in or around 1813 and how did they sign?

[jason 20]

Hi all, The surname on the headstone is Wileman, there are no Wildman headstones, however the church removed and disposed of all the earlier headstones pre-1813 so it's not that easy, some signed their name and of those who did pre-1813 they signed Wildman, one theory put to me last night was a certain Edward Abney inherited the manor in 1810, and would have had great influence over the day to day lives of people in the village, maybe he thought Wildman was too rough  of a name? this was just an idea put to me but is plausible.

Many thanks

[pharmaT]

I have a family in my tree called McCombe.  Up until the Great Grandparent's generation it was more commonly spelt McComb.  I was told by the grandfather on this line that his grandfather (grt grt grandfather) had told him that he had registered the oldest child's birth but having wet the baby's head he didn't notice (even though literate) that the registrar had made a spelling mistake.  When he got home his wife wasn't happy so he'd gone back to ask the certificate to be fixed and had been told this wasn't possible.  So he decided all the children should have the same name. 


I don't know how truthful this is but I can say all documents from the birth of the oldest child in that generation on that line onwards use the spelling McCombe, but the families of this grt grt grandfather's brothers use the spelling McComb to this day. Well all the ones I've found any way.