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Author Topic: Common for Census names to be incorrect?  (Read 1672 times)

Offline newmodernist

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Common for Census names to be incorrect?
« on: Sunday 24 May 15 20:46 BST (UK) »
I'm tracing my great-grandmother Elsie Kathleen Thomas, born 19th of November 1886.  I have a birth record, so I'm sure of the DOB.  I've found her and the family on the Canadian census in 1891, but in the 1901 Census, the family is all there (minus the father who died) but Elsie isn't...however there's an Alice Thomas listed with the same date of birth.  Is this common?
Moore, Craig, Donnelly, Boyd, Johnston, Butterworth, Hayes, Orr, Brierley, Heather

Online KGarrad

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Re: Common for Census names to be incorrect?
« Reply #1 on: Sunday 24 May 15 21:07 BST (UK) »
The enumerator wrote down what (he thought) he heard!

Linguistically, Elsie is very similar to Alice?! ;D
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Offline newmodernist

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Re: Common for Census names to be incorrect?
« Reply #2 on: Sunday 24 May 15 21:08 BST (UK) »
Wow!  Good thing the date of birth was listed, or I would've though there was a whole other person!
Moore, Craig, Donnelly, Boyd, Johnston, Butterworth, Hayes, Orr, Brierley, Heather

Offline djct59

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Re: Common for Census names to be incorrect?
« Reply #3 on: Sunday 24 May 15 21:31 BST (UK) »
It's very common with census records. I have an entire family called McKie who moved to Edinburgh in 1880, and appear the following years as "MacKay", although every other document verifies thay are the correct people.

One of my great-great- grandfathers was an illiterate labourer from Northern Ireland called Archer. His accent made his surname sound like "Archard" so that's what the Census enumerator wrote. Even in the 19th century, information was only as good as the inputter made it.

Online carol8353

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Re: Common for Census names to be incorrect?
« Reply #4 on: Sunday 24 May 15 23:06 BST (UK) »
The forms were filled in by the householder ,if they were literate,with help from neighbours or the enumerator if they were not. What we get to see are often a schedule of names etc taken from a lot of forms,written out by the enumerator in days before electric light,so it was hardly surprising they misread their own and others writing.
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Offline Rosinish

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Re: Common for Census names to be incorrect?
« Reply #5 on: Sunday 24 May 15 23:25 BST (UK) »
Quote from: KGarrad on Sunday 24 May 15 21:07 BST (UK)
Linguistically, Elsie is very similar to Alice?! ;D

It would be because of the accent too.........a Canadian "A" probably sounds like our  soft "E"  ???

That happens a lot with Highland & Irish accents but it's a good learning curve when doing genealogy...........amazing what we learn  ;D

Annie
South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie

Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)

Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling

Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon

Canada:- Callaghan, Cumming, MacPhee

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Offline aghadowey

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Re: Common for Census names to be incorrect?
« Reply #6 on: Monday 25 May 15 08:28 BST (UK) »
I've seen quite a few instances where Elsie and Alice were used interchangeably so perhaps not an error on the part of the enumerator.
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Offline iolaus

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Re: Common for Census names to be incorrect?
« Reply #7 on: Monday 25 May 15 18:43 BST (UK) »
I have an Isabella who is sometimes Isabella on the census, sometimes Bella - and once Elizabeth
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