Any answers to this question????

[Geoff]

A Question for all.

Thanks to a fellow chatter it would appear I have found a family I have unsuccesfully tried to find for a lot of years.

All details i.e. first names, ages, age gaps, occupations & known places of birth are exact, the problem is they are on the census under another surname.

In most instances their real surname looks to have been given as a middle name, but just by it's initial.

Has anyone ever heard of this sort of thing before??

Any ideas as to why they would do this??

Cheers
Geoff

[valerie kehoe]

Was one of the names a 'sept' name? - like my Irish O'Brien family - being 'Hourihan O'Brien's - eventually dropping the 'Hourihan' to just O'Brien I was told all 'Hourihan's would've been O'Briens originally.
Just a thought - Valerie

[Geoff]

Hi Valerie,
No, it wasn't a separate name.
The new surname is an add on that seems to have happened sometime between 1878 and 1881 and then beyond.

At this time I have no idea why. It may have only happened in the census' of '81 & '91.

They may have been hiding from the bailiff

Geoff

[PaulineJ]

Could it be that the name change occurred when the 'dad' of this household left the family home and married?. It may have been up until then that he was using a step-father's surname for convenience.

Are we taking these surnames from certificates, or just census?

[Ruth]

Hi Geoff

I've got a case of a family appearing under one surname in one census, changing to another in the next and then back again.  In this case, the head of the household was illegitimate - sometimes he used his father's surname, sometimes his mother's married name.  He lived in a village so must have been known by both names throughout his life.

Ruth

[Geoff]

The family is traced by certificates up until the birth of a son in 1878.

Then in the 1881 census, what looks to be the exact same family suddenly takes on a new surname.
It is a name that up until now has not been associated with them.  

The only thing I can't be sure of, is that perhaps it might be a name from the wife's maternal line.

I'll make that my next line of inqiry.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Cheers
Geoff

[Kazza]

Geoff,

There are also less legitimate reasons for changing a surname,  hiding from the authorities for instance.

I have an ancestor with an alias,  after a time he seems to settled for using it permanently,  and changed his children's names too,  no sign of a mother at that point.

Kazza.

[CarolBurns]

I have found this name changing quite often with one line of my family

In 1861 the mother is Elizabeth Owen and the children are all under Jones, In 1871 She is Owens and so are the children.  1881 she and the children are still Owens but the eldest three children are not with her and not under either Jones or owen or Owens (mind you there are so many entires that I probably missed them anyway)

In 1891 one of the daughters (my Great Great Grandmother) is under Owen as well as two of her 3 children but by 1901 she has another child and has changed her name from Owen to Charles along with three of her children living with her! She is down as married though I know she never married between those years. She married David Evans a couple of years later. The children were all registered under Owen as I have the birth certs for them. She is even living in the same house as in 1891.

If she had changed it to Jones I could understand that but not a name that has no link to the family. My Great Grandad, her eldest son is registered under Owen but in 1891 is living with Elizabeth under Roberts which is supposed ot be his fathers name. By 1901 he is back to Owen!

Did these people just change their name depending on how they felt at the time?

It definitely causes a lot of probolems for us searching for them but don't we just love the chase?

Carol

[valerie kehoe]

Hi there,
It could be that;
in 1861 Elizabeth had a de facto r/ship with Mr Jones -so the chn belonged to the 'Jones's household.
In 1871 she's on her own - so chn are now just hers - ('Owen's).
In 1881 she's on her own - 3 eldest chn married /or 'In service'
In 1891    "             "           dau has illegitimate chn so they're 'Owen's too.'
In 1901 she has new relationship (+ child) with a Mr Charles -so now it becomes a 'Charles' household.

Finally (?) c1903 she actually marries David Evans.

-Valerie