Surname Change : the Reasons Why

As you think of tracing your family tree, you are picturing your surname going back thousands of years to the very first individual that assumed your surname. You assume the spelling is exactly the same as you spell it today, all the way through each generation.

Then a brick wall hits you in the face. Guess what, you have now been confronted with the cold facts of genealogy research. Surnames were not used for the better half of mankind. Surnames didn't really begin until the eleventh century in the European world. Basically surnames started to evolve during the past eight hundred years; this was to distinguish one person from the other as the population grew. Surnames have been influenced by many factors, naming practices, social class, patterns and even some unusual events.

Some of us that are tracing our surnames back to the time that the surname was acquired are a challenge. Surnames have changed in spelling and pronunciation. They have evolved over centuries, which can make your present name unlikely the same as the original ancestor that held the surname. There might be a spelling variation of the original name; an anglicized name or it can even be a completely different surname all together.

If you are one of the luck ones and your surname has never changed or only changed by one or two letters, then you are among the selected bunch.

Since most surnames have changed over the centuries, I have put together a list of the most common reasons why surname changes can happen.

1. Making it simple - Immigrants arriving in a new country, found that their name was difficult for other people to pronounce and/or spell. So they would simply alter their name by spelling it different, this way the name relates more closely to the language and pronunciation of their new country.

2. Out of necessity - If the country the individual was in had an alphabet that was different than Latin then they had to translate the name into that language. If the individual immigrated to more than one country, then the surname would of had several different translations that the individual carried with him as he immigrated

3. To fit in - Many immigrants changed their names because they wanted to fit in with their new country and culture. The easy way of doing this was to take the meaning of their surname and translate it into the new language. Irish surname are a good example to look at.

4. Breaking away from their past - Many immigrants for one reason or another, wanted to break away or escape from their past. For many they would rid themselves of everything that could or would remind them of their unhappy life in their old country.

5. Conceal - Changes and modification to a surname can also be attributed to concealing religious faiths or nationality in fear of discrimination. The Jews often faced anti-Semitism so millions of Jews changed their name in one way or another.

6. Mispronunciation - People that emigrate from countries that have a heavy accent can speak the surname in ways that it sounds like something totally different all together. This can become very confusing.

7. Just dislikes their surname - In some countries people were and still are today, forced to take a surname whether they liked it or not. The surname has no part in their culture or meaning to the individual so they erase that surname at the first opportunity the individual has to leave that country.

8. Illiteracy - In most families you don't have to go back very far to find out that the individual didn't know how to read or right. Reading and writing was only for the genteel society. Many people didn't even know how their own names were to be spelled. They only knew how to pronounce it. Therefore, when they gave their name to census takers, clerks, clergymen, or any other official, the person would write the name the way it sounded. Often times when the individual did know how to spell their name the person recording it didn't even ask so names were spelled all different ways.

As you are research your surname keep these most common changes in mind. Try every kind of spelling you can think of plus there are many websites out there that can help you with name spellings. Don't give up if you become flustered, remember there are plenty of people out there that are having the same problem.