Heslen vs Heslin name in Ireland

[Ruskie]

One letter difference/change in spelling wouldn’t necessarily be due to a ‘split’ in the family. More likely to be an ‘organic’ change following lack of accuracy or consistency of spelling. The surname sounds (more or less) the same when spoken anyway.

Another thing to consider is that a written e and i can look very similar, so the e/i difference in spelling may be down to how the name was transcribed from original documents.

Everything else being equal, I think most people would see these as being the same surname. The era might have some significance too, as more recent in theory = more accurate.

Some time ago someone asked for a document to be transcribed - (I think it was a will) Within a few lines, the surname was spelled three different ways.

[Maiden Stone]

One letter difference/change in spelling wouldn’t necessarily be due to a ‘split’ in the family. More likely to be an ‘organic’ change following lack of accuracy or consistency of spelling. The surname sounds (more or less) the same when spoken anyway.

Another thing to consider is that a written e and i can look very similar, so the e/i difference in spelling may be down to how the name was transcribed from original documents.

One of my family names is Loftus, common to Mayo. It's sometimes Loftis and occasionally Loftes. They all sound similar. My GGF didn't read or write, Irish was his first language.
 A relative named Mulvee had 2 marriages and a large number of children in England, all in the same town; records under Mulvee, Mulvie, Mulvey. Transcription errors by GRO resulted in extra variations, some of which were amended after I submitted corrections with evidence from original registers.
I found 20 spelling variations of one Irish surname in Lancashire, a different spelling for every town where people with the surname settled in mid 19th century.