General Chat

Hi all, I have raised this query before we had Threads, but I am raising it again because I have had no suggestions how to resolve this problem. Is there no way to link Surnames of the same Family with different spellings? Many people in the past were illiterate and the Parish Clerk wrote down what he thought he heard, and this has given rise to many variations. I have spoken to Wetherills who firmly believe that there could be no link with me because of the different spelling! Also a lot of people have the mistaken opinion that their surname must go back unchanged to the year dot. How naive. I have 9 variations of my surname in 12 generations. If I want to see if any new names have been added I have to lookup 9 pages, and that's just the Weatheralls. There is also the distinct possibility that there are other variations which I have not considered, and are consequently overlooked. I have already listed 25 possible different spellings. Another example I have is Cockbone. I know this name has changed to Cockburn or even Coburn, yet because I don't have that particular spelling in my Tree I am not permitted access to their information in the same way as I can look up Cockbone. I list my ancestors using the name by which they were first recorded because this is the only way to ensure that errors don't creep in. It is not genealogically correct to alter the names in any way, except perhaps to de-Latinise. Some Parish Clerks showing off their education insisted on writing things like Annae for Ann or Guilielmus for William, or even Xpopher for Christopher! We can standardise Christian names to a great extent, but what is the definitive version of my Surname? It is a pity we have no means of grouping surnames which have an obvious common origin. Has anybody else come across this problem? Or maybe its just me being awkward again! Jim, Gosport

Hi Jim I only know of the SOUNDTEX SYSTEM as used by the LDS on their site and from their Glossary I found the following: "Soundex index A type of index that groups together words that sound similar but are spelled differently. Each word is assigned a code that consists of the first letter of the word. The next three consonants are assigned a number. Vowels are ignored. Soundex has been used to index the 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 United States censuses and some other types of records, such as naturalization records and passenger lists." Using this the LDS/IGI site gives you all the names that sound the same but have different spellings. So it would search for WEATHERALL as WTHR in the name. Bit complicated to explain off hand but I hope you understand. Unfortunately this site does not use it and like you say it would be so useful. Our name BROMAGE probably started as BROMWICH in Staffs. Vera Bromage, Manchester

Hi Jim, I don't think you are being awkward at all because I have a similar problem with some of my ancestors. I personally do not change any spelling variations myself but always record names as written down. This is something that worries me a bit when people only research from internet info and don't confirm any of it. It was only by researching parish registers that I discovered a G.Grandmother's family name had been changed. The helpful vicar had entered the names of various children in the baptism register as 'GLADWIN also known as GLADDEN'. I was then able to identify my G.G.Grandfather's marriage in the church register and get a photocopy for 30p. instead of £6.50 as it was then! Similarly my DENHAM ancestors were originally DEANHAM and for a number of years both variations were used and one of my G.G.G.Grandmother's maiden name was BRECKON but research showed the name recorded in the parish registers as 'BRECKON alias BRECKONFIELD'. For search purposes it would be helpful to have variants grouped together somehow. Perhaps it is something which will be added in the future? To be fair they do appear to be improving the site all the time. Regards, Beryl, Co.Durham.

I have the same problem with the name Clilverd. The Man my line descended from applied for a marriage license in the the name Clilward was married in the name Clilford some of his children were baptised with the name Clilverd some Clilford and he ran a boot and shoe makers in the name Cliveerd. I do a search every few day in the spelling that dont appear in my tree to see if anyone matches and put in the notes section all the different spellings and where I found them.