surnames and different spellings

[yosamitesam]

iv been tracing back the family maternal line to Eccleshall, Staffs with the surname Matthews - when you get further back in time IE 1600 - 1500 the parish records for what is a VERY VERY small village list the name with a few different psellings of the name IE

mathews
mathewes
mathewe

is this the same family or is it different? could it just be people who couldnt spell like wot i duz or genuinely different families?

iv found the full parish records for 1530ish to 1650ish i think it goes to - lists it word for word. fantastic book in original text. its in a library near me. cant borrow it tho.. pah!

any ideas? iv put 2 and 2 together on a few names but this will need to be proved at later date.

[stanmapstone]

Elizabethan, and later, spelling was very erratic by twentieth-century standards.

Stan

[Marmalady]

Spelling varied considerably in earlier times

With the low levels of literacy among the general population, they could not check & correct the spellings of their name in parish registers or other documents

Very often it was phonetic - the clerk wrote down what he heard & how he thought it might be spelled - so sometimes you need to think in the local accent to work out the spellings!

I would say that all the examples listed (and more!) could apply to the same family -- do the registers give any other clues such as where they lived?

[yosamitesam]

Elizabethan, and later, spelling was very erratic by twentieth-century standards.

Stan

yea you aint kidding - but is this common place to find very different ways of spelling but is the same family?

[yosamitesam]

Spelling varied considerably in earlier times

With the low levels of literacy among the general population, they could not check & correct the spellings of their name in parish registers or other documents

Very often it was phonetic - the clerk wrote down what he heard & how he thought it might be spelled - so sometimes you need to think in the local accent to work out the spellings!

I would say that all the examples listed (and more!) could apply to the same family -- do the registers give any other clues such as where they lived?

just from the parish records of Eccleshall, Staffs. quite comprehensive and old!
gotta go back at a later date to read the 2nd book.

[Seoras]

One of mine Yosemite,McEwan,McOwan,McKeown,all the same family.

[aghadowey]

There's really no way of knowing it's the same family from the various spellings of the surname. Spelling was very fluid and it's not uncommon to find such variations.

[yosamitesam]

so i'm going to need a different way of identifying them seperatley. i would of thought that the people iv found today would some of them be cousins. all same age range from 1580 - 1596 [16 persons!] i know some people dont watch tv but come on - shes gonna be very busy! why o why o why didnt them thar peeps put more info down! pah.. make my life easier it would 

[Plummiegirl]

Still not that unusual now.

My mothers' surname was Earl - she occassionally added an E   'Earle'    'cos she thought it looked posher!!!!!  And I am certain her father and brother also did the same.

I also have Costa's in my family and the spelling varied from family members.  Coster, Costa, Costar et al

Surname spelling regularity has only been standardised since around 1900 and then it can still be hit and miss.  Several reasons, enumerator in particular areas spelt names in different ways.  Enumerator wrote names down phonetically.  Enumerator was local and could not understand strong accents from people who were not local.  Think of an enumerator in London and us Londoners and our dropped aitches.  'Arris or Harris etc.,

And names like my maiden name such as Simpson - pronounced Simson with a silent P.

You could go on forever.