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What's in a Name? Why
Spelling is so important in your Ancestry Search
What's in a name? The answer is, quite a bit
actually. If you are beginning a search of your family tree it
will help you tremendously to know the history of your family
name, or for that matter of the names of other branches of the
family. Many times names were changed when people immigrated to
this country. If a person's name sounded too "foreign"
in a culture that was primarily of English ancestry then that name
may very well have been changed. To a lesser extent, if the
spelling of the name seemed difficult or again foreign then it
could have been changed for that reason as well.
A prime example of simple spelling differences in languages is in
the American and British spellings of certain words. The American
word theater is spelled theatre in the UK. Defense is spelled
defence. Shop in old English is shoppe. The same small changes
often happen with names.
When doing genealogy research you will sometimes notice names
spelled several different ways in the same document. Many years
ago standardized spellings for names didn't really exist. Not
everyone could read and write in those days, and often members of
the same family would spell names differently. The English name
Darby for instance could also be spelled Derby, but still
pronounced the same way. Also Smith could be spelled Smithe or
Smyth, or Smythe. Maddox can also be spelled Maddux, Madux, or
even Maddoc. The Scottish name Munro was more commonly spelled
Monroe by the English. Then look at names that are translated from
one language to another. The French name Choaumote was sometimes
Americanized to Shumate, a totally different spelling.
Another reason for name changes is that immigration authorities
both made mistakes, including typographical errors, which would
stick with an immigrant, and would sometimes arbitrarily change
names on their own because they couldn't pronounce a name or
didn't like the spelling. For instance, the Swedish name Sjoblom,
with a silent j, is pronounced see-bloom. Some members of the
Sjoblom family had their names changed, involuntarily, to Seebloom
or Seabloom.
As another example of how
names were changed is the Italian name Tagliaferro which
means iron worker. This name became Tolliver. Another
Italian name, Amici which means friend was Americanized
into Ameche. Even the families of presidents have not been
immune. Roosevelt comes from the Dutch name Van Rosevelt,
which means of the rose field. Blum, which means flower,
was Americanized into Bloom. The German name Roggenfelder
which means rye field could have been directly translated
into Ryefield, but instead it commonly became Rockefeller.
American names like the American population itself come
from all countries of the world. Remember the old movie
Stripes when Bill Murray in Army basic training said
"Our ancestors were kicked out of all the best
countries in Europe", well most were not kicked out,
but instead chose to leave. This included Dutch settlers
in New York, French in Louisiana, Spanish in Florida and
Texas, Germans in Pennsylvania, English in Virginia, and
on and on. The American melting pot and the hope of
opportunity in the new country caused most people to want
to assimilate, and many did so partly by changing their
names. General George Armstrong Custer, so well known for
Custer's Last Stand, had a German grandfather, a Hessian
solder whose name was Kuster. Another German name, Schwab
which means from Swabia became Swope for many.
Another reason for changes were to simply make the
spelling of a name look more American, which was more
common English. Double letters such as RR or LL could be
replaced by a single letter. Common spellings in other
languages, or even in British English, were often subject
to change. The common name Grover for instance, can also
be Krover, Krober, Groeber, or Crower, as well as other
spellings. Sometimes the reason for the change in spelling
was the accent of the person immigrating. Sometimes
immigration officials would hear the accent and
misinterpret it, and usually the new name stuck.
It is important to know the alternative spellings of your
family name to do a complete search of your ancestry. If
you don't have that information you could miss vital
branches of the family tree.
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About the Authors
Paul Duxbury and Kevin Cook own
www.amateur-genealogist.com and www.our-family-trees.co.uk two of
the leading Genealogy Websites. In addition Paul owns a wide
range of exciting websites which can be viewed at
www.paulduxbury.com
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