Ackland Surname

[Pommyrose]

Hi,

A bit of weird one but hoping someone may help or point me in the right direction.  Im looking into the history of the Ackland Surname, most of which i found online but what i cant seem to find is "evidence " is one side of the Ackland family dropping the "k" in the surname to become known as "Acland".

Iv read stories that somewhere during the late 1400s early 1500s there were 2 brothers (quite a well off family from what i can gather) the older brother dropped the "k" which started the Acland line (where the well known Acland family in Devon come from) while the younger brother kept the "k" in the surname.

I have yet to find any evidence of this and dont really want to add what other people have written on thier trees as gospel.

My line is the Ackland line

Any advice?

Thank you in advance ☺️

[KGarrad]

I think you're placing too much emphasis on spellings

Spelling, especially of names, was an art form, rather than a science.

[Ruskie]

It’s only fairly recently that spelling of names has become important.

I’d say that the story about your surname spelling variations going back to the thirteenth and fourteenth century when surnames themselves were still relatively new, is not true. I don’t think you will find any evidence to support this theory.

If you say the names Akland and a Ackland out loud, they sound the same.

The surname could have different origins or perhaps one branch of the family found that the K was either added or omitted so many times on official documents that they just went with it.

Consider that the majority of people would have been illiterate and any who were literate were unlikely to check official documents to ensure that their surname was spelled with or without the k.

 

[Old Bristolian]

There is a book 'A Devon family - the story of the Aclands' by Anne Acland. I think it's available from Amazon, or a library should be able to access it for you. That should help with the origins and early years. By the way, I live less than a mile from Acland Barton, from whence the name derives, 

Steve

[Pommyrose]

Thanks for the replies 😊 and i will look into the book thank you Steve!