Reason for change in surname spelling(Jacks/Jacques)????

[DellaR]

Hi .Wondering if anyone can shed some light onto why a family would change the spelling of their surname? I have been tracing my great  great great grandads name of Jacques and had them with this spelling from the 1861 census onwards. However, in their 1843 marriage certificate, 1851 census and also the birth records of their children up to 1856 they are listed as Jacks. I know its the same family as occupations, place of birth and family names are the same.Why would they change the spelling do you think?The family was from Audlem,Cheshire and he was a boatman.

[CaroleW]

Hi

Illiteracy played a great part in that type of variation.  If the people were unable to write their name - it was spelt as it was spoken

By 1861 - either they or their children may have been better educated

[DellaR]

Hi, i had thought of that but his fathers surname is Jacks on the wedding certificate also . Why spell it one way for all those years and then change it in his thirties?Just seems odd to me ?

[smakcanada]

I know some people will argue with me but the answer is simply...spelling didnt count. Until the late 19th or even early 20th c it was irrelevant how you spelt words. Only very sophisticated recorders of data spelled words of any kind, including names, in a consistent manner. That's why I find multiple spellings within the same letter or document i.e., Kenny, Kenney, Kennie, Kenne, Kene; even if written by the person of that name!

It seems incongruous to us users of dictionaries, spell-checks, Wikipedia etc. who were taught spelling, grammar and syntax that the phonetic sound of a word was sufficient for a record - even a marriage certificate - but that's the way it was.

as pipl text u c mor pipl go back 2 simpl riting lol

[garstonite]

Hiya Swirly...
Jacks
Jacques
Jaques.....all in Audlem ...for instance
google CPRDb    Cheshire Parish Records Database

28th dec 1856 baptism of George JAQUES father George / mother Elizabeth - abode Audlem - Parish Audlem
occupation Labourer

so no C in this Jacques ...but almost certainly one of the Jacks /Jacques family from Audlem ...like Carole stated , not EVERY parish record was spelt correctly - curates filled a lot of registers ...it`s the same with a census ...picture a census ....a poor man could make money to help feed his children by going around EVERY door in the area he lived in , by filling in the details of that particular house ...even if he couldn`t spell properly - he would say he could just to get money for his family....hence the many many families whose names were spelt wrong .....so how many curates done the same - for money - and filled in parish registers for the vicar ..??

allan

[smakcanada]

I'm looking for Agnes Jack 1863-1936 m James Gault 1864-1944. Died Ballymarlow County Antrim. We're parents of Rose Mary Gault 1898 -1971 b Eskylane, Shilvodan. She m. Robert Kenny 1882 -1955.

[stonechat]

On the census the enumerator could have written what he thought they said

[DellaR]

Hi thanks for all your replies. I can see, now that i am a few yrs further down the line of research how easy a change in Spelling could come about. Garstonite, the George Jacques you mention as father to George jnr is the gt gt gt granddad I was refaring to in my original post !
They worked on the canals as boatmen before owning a grocers in old Chester road Nantwich.