Author Topic: Advice on surname variations please.  (Read 1965 times)

Offline Maiden Stone

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Re: Advice on surname variations please.
« Reply #18 on: Tuesday 15 June 21 13:54 BST (UK) »

...  and so the people didn't know what their name looked like written down, how it was spelt so couldn't even if they wanted to 'correct it' and many later on would just copy how they saw it was written by someone else...so maybe different to how their paent or sibling wrote their name

Spelling didn't become important until the mid 20th century and then because the education system put lots of effort into teaching reading and writing to all, and with all in compulsory education to achieve this.


A couple of examples from Ireland.
A census return with 2 spellings of the family's surname.
A man reported his brother's death. Registrar queried different spellings of his signature and brother's surname. Informant replied that the spelling of the brother's surname was how he'd spelled it when he was alive.

I agree that spelling became important after compulsory education, in late 19th century in England, later in Ireland.
Cowban

Offline Maiden Stone

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Re: Advice on surname variations please.
« Reply #19 on: Tuesday 15 June 21 13:56 BST (UK) »
I would say as far back as I have got would be the correct spelling being Hambling my late Grandfather was a Hambling.

How far back?
Cowban

Offline Gadget

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Re: Advice on surname variations please.
« Reply #20 on: Tuesday 15 June 21 14:05 BST (UK) »
If you're worried about Hamblin and Hambling,  try having Welsh patronymics to contend with.

Many of mine from before the late 1700s were written in the parish records in this form.  When this changed to surnames, I have an example of one brother's surname being Ellis and one being a Roberts. Their father was an Ellis ap Robert.

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Offline KGarrad

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Re: Advice on surname variations please.
« Reply #21 on: Tuesday 15 June 21 14:14 BST (UK) »
The concept of correct spelling or misspelling is a relatively recent phenomenon. Nowadays, we have a heavily engrained sense of "correct spelling" drilled into us from our own education amongst other things, but in the past there wasn't necessarily such a thing as a misspelled word or name. We're talking about societies predominantly using oral communication where "the masses" couldn't read or write (well).

Seems that in modern society, spelling is becoming less important ;D
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Offline oldhippy

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Re: Advice on surname variations please.
« Reply #22 on: Tuesday 15 June 21 14:21 BST (UK) »
I would say as far back as I have got would be the correct spelling being Hambling my late Grandfather was a Hambling.

How far back?

Bang on the nose 1600
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Hambling. Mexter. Taylor. Bailey. Bolton. Boyse. Davenport. Fisher. Godfrey. Goff. Hawkins. Holmes. Jarvis. Joseph. Leek. Morgan. Osborne. Ross. Sharp. Webber.

Websites
http://hamblingfamily.tribalpages.com

http://taylorfamily1.tribalpages.com

Online Erato

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Re: Advice on surname variations please.
« Reply #23 on: Tuesday 15 June 21 15:07 BST (UK) »
I think the tough part is distinguishing how an ancestor spelled his or her name and how it was recorded by other people.  In my tree, the Stallas quickly became Stellas in the United States.  It seems that Stalla was just too weird for Americans to deal with, so they converted it to something familiar.  Every record after about 1880 [and many before that time] gives the family name as Stella.  Except one.  In 1918, Robert Harvey Stella, grandson and namesake of the original immigrant, registered for the draft using the surname Stalla.  He signed the document and his signature is clear.  And yet, he was born and apparently lived his whole life as a Stella.  His father, his uncle, his aunts, his siblings and his daughter were all called Stella, too.  So, what did Robert think his surname was?  I wish I had more signatures from this family that would clarify their own feelings about their name.
Wiltshire:  Banks, Taylor
Somerset:  Duddridge, Richards, Barnard, Pillinger
Gloucestershire:  Barnard, Marsh, Crossman
Bristol:  Banks, Duddridge, Barnard
Down:  Ennis, McGee
Wicklow:  Chapman, Pepper
Wigtownshire:  Logan, Conning
Wisconsin:  Ennis, Chapman, Logan, Ware
Maine:  Ware, Mitchell, Tarr, Davis

Offline StefanD99

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Re: Advice on surname variations please.
« Reply #24 on: Wednesday 16 June 21 21:03 BST (UK) »
One branch of my wife's family are called Murten. A proud Yorkshire family who are also pride themselves in the correct spelling of the name. Their ancestors actually migrated from Norfolk and Suffolk in the mid nineteenth century, and the actual spelling could be any of the many possible combinations of vowels, even Martyn. The handwriting in many of the registers mean it is often impossible to decipher which vowel the writer intended to record with any degree of certainty. A 'foreign' accent could also leave a lot of doubt, with the pronunciation, how a name should be spelt.
Oh! What a tangled web we perceive,
where ancestors try to hide and deceive.

Offline markheal

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Re: Advice on surname variations please.
« Reply #25 on: Wednesday 16 June 21 22:16 BST (UK) »
The modern computer has a horribly strict and proscriptive naming protocol.

I when I order my tree  surname data in alphabetical order in search of erroneous duplicated people, I find the importance of the use or avoidance of the HYPHEN in double or triple barrelled surnames.

So, to hyphenate or not to hyphenate?

Fitz-Herbert, FitzHerbert, Fitz herbert , Fitz Herbert or Fitzherbert?

Also the FULL STOP and Spacing as in the common abbreviation of the surname SAINT. St.Leger, St. Leger, St Leger or Saint Leger.

I am now tending to avoid all hyphens in the hope for some personal consistency, at least in the strict alphabetical ordering!
ANSTRUTHER,Worldwide
BENNETT,
BRETT, Sligo
CARNEGIE,
CROCKFORD, Hampshire.
ELLIOT,
GAUNTLETT, Worldwide
HEAL, HEALE, HELE, Chew Magna, Somerset
HENRY, Sligo
MABEY, Dorset
O'HANLON
POPE, London docklands,
STANDERWICK, Somerset,
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