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re: Went down the ancestry rabbit hole: Why would someone change spelling of last name?
Posted on 12/21/21 at 1:20 pm to weagle99
Posted on 12/21/21 at 1:20 pm to weagle99
In one case of my ancestors, there was another person in the small town with same spelling. My ancestor slightly changed last name to reduce the postal delivery mixups.
In another, my ancestor had a falling out with brother. The brother was loyal to the Brits while my ancestor joined George Washington’s side. Eventually changed his name from ‘Gross’ to ‘Groce’.
In another, my ancestor had a falling out with brother. The brother was loyal to the Brits while my ancestor joined George Washington’s side. Eventually changed his name from ‘Gross’ to ‘Groce’.
0
Posted on 12/21/21 at 1:22 pm to trident
quote:
My best guess is language. I know my family did when they stopped using German so much and the English speak it was spelled differently
Yep...last name is German....somewhere along the line they dropped the "e" at the end.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 1:26 pm to weagle99
quote:
Why would someone change spelling of last name?
They got kicked out of Austria for not being Catholic and needed a Protestant name to join Gustavus Adolphus' army?
Posted on 12/21/21 at 1:31 pm to TopWaterTiger
Early census takers were politically appointed by their politician brother in law and could not spell and didn’t give a shite.
Often while the old man was plowing or hunting/trapping the mother was interviewed and was illiterate so her rendition was bad. Even as to kids ages and places of birth.
Lot of names spelled phonetically.
Done a lot of census work for over 50 years and it’s a pain. Especially finding name and ages differences from one location to the next 10 years later.
Often while the old man was plowing or hunting/trapping the mother was interviewed and was illiterate so her rendition was bad. Even as to kids ages and places of birth.
Lot of names spelled phonetically.
Done a lot of census work for over 50 years and it’s a pain. Especially finding name and ages differences from one location to the next 10 years later.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 1:32 pm to weagle99
My ×7 Great Grandfather came over from South of France and he changed his name from Plauchier to Plauché.
Don't know why he did it...but if your last name is Plauché...I'm related to you.
Don't know why he did it...but if your last name is Plauché...I'm related to you.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 1:33 pm to weagle99
Someone I know was telling me about their family tree. He told me that his great grandfather (I think.. Maybe great great) came to the US from Ireland and before they left Ireland their last name had an O in front of it.
When they got off the boat, I guess they had to get ID'd somehow and whatever name you gave them was the name they went with and his great grandfather told them their last name without the O. Evidently he didn't want people to see the name of his kids and immediately know they were Irish (and I guess stereotyped).
Not sure if that answers your question, but its an example of why someone would alter their last name.
When they got off the boat, I guess they had to get ID'd somehow and whatever name you gave them was the name they went with and his great grandfather told them their last name without the O. Evidently he didn't want people to see the name of his kids and immediately know they were Irish (and I guess stereotyped).
Not sure if that answers your question, but its an example of why someone would alter their last name.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 1:37 pm to TopWaterTiger
quote:
Yep...last name is German....somewhere along the line they dropped the "e" at the end.
That doesn't seem.... Relevant.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 1:41 pm to weagle99
Extended family that didn’t want to be confused with those other people.
Man #1 “Hey are y’all kin to the such and such families across town?”
Man #2 “Nope. Matter of fact, they spell it different”
Man #1 “Hey are y’all kin to the such and such families across town?”
Man #2 “Nope. Matter of fact, they spell it different”
Posted on 12/21/21 at 2:14 pm to weagle99
quote:
Why would someone change spelling of last name?
My ancestor (not sure how many generations back) did it because of how they spelled his name in the records for his Revolutionary War pension.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 2:17 pm to weagle99
A lot of times it was changed at immigration due to simple spelling errors.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 2:28 pm to weagle99
Sometimes it was the census taker and the way that they wrote it down.
Especially when at the door of a recently arrived or 1st generation family.
Especially when at the door of a recently arrived or 1st generation family.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 2:31 pm to cgrand
quote:
my maternal family name was “Martrana” in Sicily. My great grandfather changed it to “martrain” when he emigrated
A lot of Italians and Sicilians ended up with the names of the towns from where they originated, just like Vito Corleone. Messina, Palermo, Caserta, Paterno, Spedale (my guess is a corruption of "ospedale" or "hospital"), Ragusa, Siracusa, Cosenza, Licata, Milazzo, Noto, Napoli, Bologna, Reggio (PGT Beauregard's mother was a Reggio, so I'm surprised the Italians didn't push back when Mitch the Bitch took down his statue), Milano, Olano, etc.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 2:33 pm to weagle99
It happened in my family and it was done during the census. The second spelling was the census takers best shot at how to spell it. Nothing scandalous except some of may 1800s ancestors could write their own name. Of course, we were French Canadian fur trappers on the upper Mississippi River. Not sure how important reading and writing was to fur trappers back then.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 2:44 pm to weagle99
I have a branch of my family that changed from Bryan to Bryant in the 1800s.
All I can think of is that Craig Robinson is in my family tree.
All I can think of is that Craig Robinson is in my family tree.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 2:47 pm to weagle99
My FIL's dad did it. Something about being tied to a mafia family.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 2:49 pm to weagle99
quote:
This happened within one generation.
False
Posted on 12/21/21 at 2:54 pm to USAF_Vol
quote:
Simple, lots of people couldn’t read or write so they spoke the name and someone else wrote it down how they thought it was spelled.
My father, who is 100 years old and going strong, told me a story about some Italian friends of ours. There are two cousins who currently spell their last names differently, but pronounce them the same. It was due to one child's first grade school teacher back in the mid 1920's teaching them to write their name how it sounded, and not how it was spelled prior to that.
This post was edited on 12/21/21 at 3:21 pm
Posted on 12/21/21 at 3:01 pm to weagle99
So, one of my great great…great? Grandfathers had a family. It was a Finnish name ending in -ülkko.
He had a large family with several sons. When the eldest son was a man, his father left his mother and married a younger woman.
This angered his son greatly, and in protest he dropped a K from the ending changing it to -ülko instead…because…Finland.
So going forward you had the One K side of the family and the 2 Ks side.
I guess there might have been a 3K side but they were from the Deep South
He had a large family with several sons. When the eldest son was a man, his father left his mother and married a younger woman.
This angered his son greatly, and in protest he dropped a K from the ending changing it to -ülko instead…because…Finland.
So going forward you had the One K side of the family and the 2 Ks side.
I guess there might have been a 3K side but they were from the Deep South
This post was edited on 12/21/21 at 3:03 pm
Posted on 12/21/21 at 3:05 pm to weagle99
My paternal family's middle name was changed when my dad was born. The original family name was Cawley.
But as the story goes when my dad was born one of my grandparents told the doctor (or whoever wrote the birth certificate) his name is R. Cawley D. Whoever transcribed the birth certificate wrote his middle name as Corley and thus there went our family name into the netherworld.
But as the story goes when my dad was born one of my grandparents told the doctor (or whoever wrote the birth certificate) his name is R. Cawley D. Whoever transcribed the birth certificate wrote his middle name as Corley and thus there went our family name into the netherworld.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 3:07 pm to weagle99
Miller vs. Mueller.
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