Timeline for What to do about "original spelling of my surname" question?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| Dec 19, 2018 at 20:04 | comment | added | ACProctor | Thanks Jan but my question was really rhetorical ,the point being that there was no "correct spelling" back then, and maybe there should be a stock answer to that effect. I have the same problem with my own name, which is "Proctor" although there are modern "Procter" branches. Way back, though, there was also "Prockter" which I have never seen in modern times. I suspect that the people who ask these questions are also the ones who feel that the surname somehow carries their genes. | |
| Dec 19, 2018 at 18:41 | comment | added | Jan Murphy Mod | "The correct spelling" of a surname is a 20th-century (and later) phenomenon and is idiosyncratic. I was about to say "to each household" but that isn't the case. E.g. two immigrant brothers from my own research who can be found as Dreikorn and later Dreicorn. I asked an older relative if she knew how the two spellings came into play, and she said the brothers had done it deliberately because they were getting each other's business deliveries and mail! | |
| Dec 19, 2018 at 16:48 | history | answered | ACProctor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |