Surname spellings (was Sending amendments to GRO)

It is not only England, it seems to be common among the English speaking nations.

I have a case in point. My grandson has a hyphenated last name, his father's last name - mother's last name.
'because it sounds better that way'.
His mother has chosen the same for her married name, therefore poor dad is the only one with a single last name which would not be carried through future generations but for his two brothers who have sons with the single last name.

 

I have a particular interest in this discussion because of the way that I decided early on about how I would organize my tree(s). Using the GenoPro software, I have effectively created a separate tree for each surname and the software automatically links between trees accordingly. This does confer certain benefits when viewing particular families on the computer screen but can appear complicated when not using the automatic links to navigate around the various branches.

That does not lead to any extra messiness when an individual changes surname. After all, some married women can do that several times during their lifetime! I also have an instance shared with other LC members, where a male family member changed both forename and surname after birth of 10 children. This has the potential for mass confusion but in this particular case it was well documented in newspapers at the time.

All that we can do is record what happened and provide a way to follow those changes. I have the name changer recorded under his birth names with most of his children shown with the new surname as that is how they continued their lives. The 3 that do not follow the changed surname include 2 that died as infants and 1 female that married just before the name change.

Using the automatic links between families need be no different whether the surname changes or not, including minor spelling variations. However, I often keep those individuals with changed surnames in the same tree as that is easier for me to follow. Like Winnie, I am only a bear with little brain.

 

The reason I use the system I do - i.e. where I use the surname that most occurs in the documents - is because that's the way that I get the most information, particularly when it comes to Ancestry and their ubiquitous hints. Using the wrong spelling of the name, like using the wrong place, can hamper their search algorithm and often leads to more dross than gold.

Plus, for most of the time when that happens I'm dealing with documents from the Netherlands which are written in Dutch. I rely on the spellings to help me locate the right people, although it helps that a lot of Dutch documents have both parents' names (mothers maiden name too!) on birth, marriage and death documents for their children.

 

My late mother was always incredibly pedantic about a family name being Sweeney "with three E's". Nevertheless, I've found that most of the records from 1901 backwards are listed with the spelling of Sweney, sometimes Sweeny and once even Swaney.

Likewise, one ancestor was insistently Tompson, 'with no H', whereas her father had been born Thompson with the H intact and seems to have lost it along the way. He moved into the East End, so maybe thought it necessary to 'drop his H's!" LOL Records vary and sometimes even Tomson with no H nor P turns up.

I also have a branch in Devon, where Middleton gets turned into Medleton or Medelton, which does approximate how it would sound in a Devonshire accent.

I find it all amusing, but I don't consider any of them to be 'right' or 'wrong'.

 

Some years ago I sent an application to a probate registry with the oath stating that the deceased had held property in two alternative forenames, as I wanted both to appear on the grant. A letter from the registry asked which was her true name. I do not remember exactly what I answered, but I did say that I had not checked the baptism register (I have no idea of whether she had been baptised). In this context I am inclined to agree with Pontius Pilate, and with tucats.