Genealogy Forum UK

How do you choose which name/ spelling of a name is the correct one?

I have several surnames which are spelled differently on different dokuments (eg Jeavons, Jevons, Jevon, Jevens, Jevens etc) I have decided to use the earliest spelling on birth/ marriage/ death certificates, and not take too much notice of census variations. I know the variations came about because of the illiteracy of the people concerned. The same is also true of christian names (Pheobe, Phebe, Phoebe, Febe etc).

I don't really know what is the correct way to do it, what does everybody else do?
Sue

Hi Sue, some people use the spellings found on any Certificates. I personally always spell names the way they are spelt today, such as Willetts rather than Wilett or Whiletts. It's up to you really, there is no hard and fast rule.

Linell.

Christening/Baptism spelling is no more reliable than anything else if the familly are illiterate and relying on the church warden to spell it right (and write ligible script!).

I look for a trend. i.e Do other family members now spell it that way?

Surnames can evolve over one generation to a more anglicised version or more phonetic (i.e, silent letters are dropped).

The most drammatic changesI have had are Onions turning to Anians when they move to the USA because that is how everybody interpreted their accent.

Boniface changing to Bonney after they moved to Australia because they were sick and tired of having to spell it out to every clerk they encountered.

The 15 "B" Byes fro Larling in Norfolk send me mad. Their parents named each of their 15 children after people in the BIble who start with B.

Boadicea, Bathsheva, Bartimias, Barakiah, Barzilai, Bartimaeus etc....

The variations on those are countless so I use the orignal source....the Bible!