Why would an entire family change their surname?

[Annbee]

I'm interested in family name changes as it happened to my family (Bache to Beach).

With your family, and it is already mentioned in brief, I wonder if it is associated with anti-Irish discrimination in the 1860s and beyond. Irish were migrating to England in droves to find employment and some British were probably fearful that there'd be no jobs left for them.

Your family may have lived in an Irish area, but that's fairly normal for any migrant to live near other migrants. Where did they work? Did they work for employers who were (a) British and (b) out of the Irish area?

Try looking on British Newspaper Archives with the search "No Irish Need Apply". Even the snippets (if you have no subscription) may give you an idea of the extra barriers an Irish migrant faced.

Apparently "Fitz" is as equally Irish as "Kil" and yet Fitz is viewed as the Anglicised version and probably sounded English to the average employer. Although a strong Irish accent might be a giveaway! Yet, despite having accents, the family may have changed their name for the sake of the children. If the parents suffered discrimination they might have wanted to give a better future to their children. Often - even usually - immigration is about seeking a better future for one's self and children. (I am a child migrant)

Here in Australia, in the past, it was not uncommon for non-British migrants to Anglicise their names to fit in.

Of course, it's pure speculation on my part and you'll probably never know the real reason. But maybe looking at it in the context of the times gives you an inkling of why it may have happened.

Here is a short article on Irish migration/discrimination:
http://www.historyisnowmagazine.com/blog/2017/6/18/irish-immigration-to-england-in-the-19th-century-problems-and-prejudice#.Y19esiFS818

[Mike in Cumbria]

In more recent times, I knew of a family called Longbottom. Each generation had suffered teasing and nicknames at school . Following the birth of a new Longbottom, the whole family - cousins, uncles, grandparents and parents all changed their name en masse to Long. They determined that no future generations should suffer the same teasing that they had done.

[Yonks Ago]

pre 1921 I think it was you could change your surname in UK and Australia with out having to register it..in my case great grandfather died and great grandmother remarried 1860ish and her children took on the step fathers surname.

yonks

[Kiltpin]

In more recent times, I knew of a family called Longbottom. Each generation had suffered teasing and nicknames at school . Following the birth of a new Longbottom, the whole family - cousins, uncles, grandparents and parents all changed their name en masse to Long. They determined that no future generations should suffer the same teasing that they had done.

 

This kind of situation was once used as an example of natural selection. 

Women did not want to be called "bottom" (Longbottom, Coldbottom, Shortbottom, Ramsbottom, Sidebottom and the rest).
 
1 - They married and changed their name. 
2 - They did not marry anyone called Bottom. 
3 - Male Bottoms found it hard to marry.   

Within a few generations, the Bottoms had bred out. 

Regards 

Chas

[Deirdre784]

A different set-up but my husband's 2* great grandparents surname was Leigh, their children (born between 1877 and 1892) were registered and baptised as Leigh, yet they were on the 1881 and 1891 censuses as Packman. He died only 2 months after the 1891, as Leigh, and the name followed down.

[Marmalady]

pre 1921 I think it was you could change your surname in UK and Australia with out having to register it..in my case great grandfather died and great grandmother remarried 1860ish and her children took on the step fathers surname.

yonks

This is still the case in the UK
You do not have to legally register your name change ("Deed poll")

You can call yourself anything you like, so long as it is not with the intention to defraud.
Of course, now with the constant need to prove your identity for security reasons, it is more difficult to just change your name without a legal document to show the change

[Yonks Ago]

yes agree..but you can't sign any legal documents using the new surname unless you have had it changed
yonks

[rogerb]

I've had several cases where this has happened.  A famous case is that of John Cleese who's father changed the family name from Cheese I think.

In my cases, there was an anglicisation of a German name to Finn.  But 2 generations later, one of the Finns changed it back to the German name - but with a misspelling that carrys through to the present day!

I have also had a family that transitioned from Davidson to Davinson - but I suspect this was due to illiteracy and relying on others to spell the name correctly on certificates and in parish registers etc.

Another relative of mine changed his name from Chainey to an Engllish sounding name but turns out to be a completely original surname.  In this case I suspect it was something to do with re-marrying before being divorced.

A further case for which I am relying on other people's research relates to one of my Aussie cousins.  They have an ancestor who arrived down under and who seems to have begun his new life with a completely new name.  Still working on this one!

In fact my own surname somehow acquired an "S" at the end of it for one generation in the eary part of the 20th cantury before reverting to the original.  I have never satisfactorily worked out why.

[Andrew Tarr]

Women did not want to be called "bottom" (Longbottom, Coldbottom, Shortbottom, Ramsbottom, Sidebottom and the rest).  Within a few generations, the Bottoms had bred out. 

Not entirely - there is still a well known cricketing Sidebottom.

I suspect this squeamishness developed after the B-word became a euphemistic alternative to more Saxon words, such as the one preferred by Jim Royle of the Royle Family