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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 11:35 am to SG_Geaux
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:35 am to SG_Geaux
quote:
Make it easier/more obvious to pronounce
This.
My last name is unique to the world and only owned by my immediate family (from a decent afternoon of research).
Basically the Slavic "k" makes a "ch" sound and an "o" was changed to an "a" due to different pronunciation. These changes were made by my great grandfather when he immigrated here with his children.
So now my last name is spelled differen than it was, but is pronounced the same.
This post was edited on 12/21/21 at 11:36 am
0
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:35 am to weagle99
I know a family that in their last name a branch of them dropped or added an E due to a family rift.
And they to this day are not fans of each other.
And they to this day are not fans of each other.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:35 am to weagle99
quote:
Why would someone change spelling of last name?
quote:
What could have been the motivations of people in the 1800’s to do this?
Was probably his porn name.
quote:
The father also appeared to move away and was buried several states over. Family falling out? Scandal?
Family probably found out about his porn side career.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:36 am to weagle99
there has historically been a lot of illiterate people in the world.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:39 am to GatorReb
quote:
I know a family that in their last name a branch of them dropped or added an E due to a family rift.
And they to this day are not fans of each other.
My family's lore on my maternal side has a similar story...half the family were deadbeats and to distinguish themselves from the deadbeats, half the family added an "e" to the end of the family name. This happened in Georgia, between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
ETA: I'm curious GatorReb...the family you know, does the family name start with the letter "M"?
This post was edited on 12/21/21 at 11:55 am
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:40 am to weagle99
quote:
Why would someone change spelling of last name?
Literacy is one factor.
So is bad hand writing.
There's a "Gavras" branch in my family tree, pronounced the same way as Brett Favre. My grandfather had looked into it years ago when he was putting together his ancestry.
He said the last name was originally G-a-r-v-a-s, just as it's pronounced. The "v" and "r" were transposed, supposedbly due to misreading of the cursive writing.
You can see how that could happen with a cursive lower case "r" and "v" side by side
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:46 am to weagle99
Apparently, the reason why there is a "X" at the end of Comeaux, Thibodeaux, Arceneaux ,etc was that when the French Canadians had to sign off on anything it looked like this
_________________________X
So, Comeau became Comeaux because of the signature X.
_________________________X
So, Comeau became Comeaux because of the signature X.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:47 am to weagle99
Name spelling wasn't uniform back in the day. People just didn't take it as seriously, also many people were illiterate. They just wrote it down the way it sounded. Everyone in the 1000 person town knew who they were, anyway - John's son (Johnson, Johnsson, Jonson).
This has been a problem for some 80+ year olds and real ID or social security because their birth certificate name and later driver license name would be spelled differently. The idea that everything must be so exact is very modern.
This has been a problem for some 80+ year olds and real ID or social security because their birth certificate name and later driver license name would be spelled differently. The idea that everything must be so exact is very modern.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:49 am to Jim Rockford
quote:
People weren't so precise in those days. A lot of people couldn't read or write. Somebody might misspell something on a legal document and they just went with it to avoid confusion.
To add to this, some official documents like the US Census can further complicate the matter. One distant family member in the 1800s was recorded as Archambault, then Rochambeau, then back to Archambault. All depends on the census taker and what they heard that day from the person at the residence.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:50 am to weagle99
I know someone whose family changed theirs to sound more American.
They changed it to Mike
They changed it to Mike
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:50 am to weagle99
Lots of replies so it may have been answered.
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 name has different spellings and it I was told this is the reason.
My Dad traced my ancestors coming to the US. My current last name starts with a C but my ancestors last name started with a K. When saying the name out loud it is easy to see how it was spelled differently.
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 name has different spellings and it I was told this is the reason.
My Dad traced my ancestors coming to the US. My current last name starts with a C but my ancestors last name started with a K. When saying the name out loud it is easy to see how it was spelled differently.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:51 am to weagle99
My grandfather changed the spelling of my last name from starting with a C to an S. I have his birth certificate and it clearly has a C on it. But his death certificate has an S.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:51 am to weagle99
Mine changed when they moved from France to Laplace. It's interesting because the name is similar to Laplace but it's a specific landmark. They lowered the capitalization after La but added another of that letter as well. Like going from LaPlace to Lapplace.
ETA:
Didn't help at all in my case and if people had a basic geographical understanding of France the old way would have been easier to figure out.
ETA:
Didn't help at all in my case and if people had a basic geographical understanding of France the old way would have been easier to figure out.
This post was edited on 12/21/21 at 11:53 am
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:53 am to rondo
quote:
there has historically been a lot of illiterate people in the world.
I'm positive this is the reason mine was changed in the 1700s.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:54 am to cheobode
quote:
Apparently, the reason why there is a "X" at the end of Comeaux, Thibodeaux, Arceneaux ,etc was that when the French Canadians had to sign off on anything it looked like this
_________________________X
So, Comeau became Comeaux because of the signature X.
Likely a myth. The founders of New Orleans were named Phelypeaux and they were upper class and literate.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:55 am to weagle99
My ancestor who came from Bavaria didn't change his name but his signature looped a B down like a P, then a close E with an ending flourish which looked like a dot over the closed E thus making it an I.
The name was spelled both ways afterwards (mid 1700's) until the dominant spelling was the same as it looked like he signed it.
The name was spelled both ways afterwards (mid 1700's) until the dominant spelling was the same as it looked like he signed it.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:56 am to weagle99
I have a prominent one that went from Leigh to Lee when they stepped off the boat from England to Virginia in the 1620's. Same pack of Leigh's that included Robert E, and Lighthorse Harry. I also assume it's a literacy thing. Most Americans were illiterate so a name spelled Leigh might confuse people and natives so they just started going with Lee. Founded Leesville VA because there were so damn many of them.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:57 am to weagle99
Many immigrants did not write down their own name and simply said the name to the bureaucrats writing it down interpreted as they heard it. My last name is spelled many different ways but all have the same basic pronunciation.
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:57 am to weagle99
Brett Favre has the same issue
Posted on 12/21/21 at 11:59 am to CrimsonTideMD
quote:
You can see how that could happen with a cursive lower case "r" and "v" side by side
another reason why cursive handwriting is stupid, yet you still have folks complaining that it's not being taught in school anymore.
glad my handwriting changed to all caps in engineering. I might write like a 6 year old that is yelling everything, but at least you will recognize every letter of every word.
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