Genealogy: No universal way to spell surnames

Our immigrant ancestors were often labeled illiterate simply because they weren't proficient in English. They might have been quite capable of reading and writing in their native language, but were not bilingual. Many, of course, were not educated. After all, literacy on a national scale is a rather recent development. This lack of schooling often gets blamed for spawning the spelling variations in surnames. Fact is, there has never been and never will be a universal way to spell any name. You'll find Smith, Smyth and Smythe in the latest phone book.

Compounding the problem was the inability of courthouse clerks, census takers and other government employees to understand what the immigrant was saying due to his or her thick foreign accent. So they spelled the surname phonetically. Government workers weren't always tops in the spelling category either. A surname might be spelled three different ways in one document.

But surnames were often modified many times before the immigrant even left his homeland. My great-grandfather's surname evolved from Karchnak to Karchnjak to Karnyak in three generations before he ever left Slovakia. His will reads Karnak and his tombstone says Carnock. Nearby, his son's tombstone says Carnack.

Despite an excess of evidence, some rooters reject the possibility that they could be descendants of anyone whose surname is spelled differently from their own. They should take up another hobby.

Even simple Irish names underwent modifications. Aside from dropping the 'O' from O'Toole or the 'Mc' McDonnell, Horan became Horn and McGeary turned into McGarry.

German surnames were really butchered. Ulrich morphed into Ullery or Ulery, Oolery and Whoolery. Eicher became Iker and Echard. Puh, Pfau and Buh changed to Poe.

Foreign names were also loosely translated into English. Since Schneider is roughly the German equivalent of the English word tailor, many Schneiders (Snyder, Snider) Americanized their name to Taylor. Likewise Zimmerman converted to Carpenter and Bruner to Springer. As with other ethnic groups, Germans lopped off parts of their surnames. Snidemueller got shortened to Mueller and eventually Anglicized to Miller.

Nicknames can also throw you a curve. When I first began tracing my roots, I thought some of my male ancestors remarried between every census. James Mills was married to Eter in 1850, but hitched to Henrietta in 1860. Polly and Mary are used interchangeably. Sadie, Sudie and Sally were popular derivatives of Sarah. Two of the more unusual nicknames that I recently encountered are 'Laney' for Magdalena and 'Lide' for Eliza Jane. The first makes some sense. But Lide? She also went by 'Kide'. Perhaps they were terms of endearment.

It was once the custom in many families, no matter the ethnic background, to give a newborn the same name as a deceased sibling. This particular tradition will really drive you nuts when you're trolling through census returns. Nothing messes up your mind like seeing Clarissa, age 5, on the 1860 census and Clarissa, age 1, on the 1870 return. Both Clarissas belonged to the same parents.

Speaking of Clarissa, the name gained prominence around 1748, following the publication of the novel Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. In the last few decades, certain names achieved popularity when they gained celebrity status on soap operas.

On the bright side, though, names provide excellent clues for ferreting out other ancestors. Many ethnic groups named their children after parents, grandparents and the parents' siblings. Up until the late 1800s, most Germans gave the eldest boys a middle initial that was the first letter of the mother's maiden name. Take Peter M. Eicher, for example. His mother's maiden name was Murray. If the family was especially prolific, the younger boys may be given an initial representing the maiden name of a grandmother.

Donna Allen writes about the use of old newspapers in genealogy in the July/August issue of the Family Chronicle, available at most bookstores.

-- Donna Murray Allen welcomes your questions about genealogy and will respond to those of general interest in future columns. Sorry, she can't take phone calls, but you can write to her c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail her at rootscolumn@yahoo.com.

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