Does anyone have evolving surnames?

[ancestorsnoop]

Thanks for all the wonderful replies!  They are very enlightening.  I am really starting to wonder if some of elusive ancestors are hiding behind a surname that has been changed. 

When I helped out at a local Family History Center several years back, there was so many beginners that would tell me that couldn't be their person, because their surname was spelled this way.  This is a good reminder to me because I find myself sometimes falling for that same trap.

[pharmaT]

I have Collie that became Currie.

I also have a name that I believe changed from something else.  I can find no record of the name (McCorgray) before 1850s in Scotland.  They were born in Ireland.  No idea where or what the name started out as.

Pharma, my mother's maiden name was McAughtrie, with various different spellings. She was born in Scotland as were both her parents. It's also believed that the McAughtrie name came out of Ireland several generations further back!  The name was pronounced very like your McCorgray ... "McCortree"...

I had never thought about that jay.  Around here we'd pronounce McAughtrie "Mc Auch-tri" or " Mc Awf-tri" but I'll give it a go and see if I can find anyone.

[ggrocott]

Teague, Tague, Tegg, Tagg, Tegg and back to Tagg again - I'm not sure you can call the Grocott name evolving just variable - Groucott, Growcott, Grocot, Grocout - etc .....................

[Chilternbirder]

I got stuck on my Mellanby ancestors for a short while as, at the time, FindMyPast didn't identify the alternative spellings - Mellenby, Mellonby or Mallenby (often in the same person's records).

My Kinsman ancestors seem to have evolved from Kindsman sometime in the seventeenth century and Burn and Burns seem to have been interchangable (I can't prove a relationship to Robbie but that line is from the same area). Otherwise it just seems to have been alternative spellings, Fraser/Frazer being the most common.

[coombs]

Titsell, Titsall to Titshall.

Cackyrmul, Cackamool, Cackamole, Cattermole.

[clairec666]

I'm fascinated by the way surnames evolve. Two of my ancestors' surnames - Breakwell and Speechley - go through a lot of different spellings along the way, but by the late 1800s most branches of the family have settled on the same spelling.

Two of my other surnames - Moul and Robinett - haven't converged on a single spelling, and there are a few variants of each existing today.

One surname - Glithro - probably came from Clitheroe at some point, but all my known relatives use it with a "G", although they change the ending (ro/ero/row).

Elsewhere in my family, I've seen German-sounding surnames which are anglicised, and a family called Newnam or Newnham whose descendants mostly changed it to Newman.

I love this topic!

[Andrew Tarr]

I'm fascinated by the way surnames evolve. .... I love this topic!

I don't think I would call it evolution exactly - more the result of often non-literate people trying to make sense of new arrivals in their locality.  There was a lot of migration in the early 19th century, especially towards towns, with those who had to write names down - clerics, census-takers - faced with the decision, and possibly a strange accent.  For example, is it Horton, Hawton, Wharton, Orton, Houghton, Haughton ?  Maybe there is a village somewhere nearby with a similar name, I'll use that.

Some of the furthest evolutions originate in Yorkshire:  Woosnam (=Wolstenholme) or Smurfit (=Smirthwaite).

[pharmaT]

I'm fascinated by the way surnames evolve. .... I love this topic!

I don't think I would call it evolution exactly - more the result of often non-literate people trying to make sense of new arrivals in their locality.  There was a lot of migration in the early 19th century, especially towards towns, with those who had to write names down - clerics, census-takers - faced with the decision, and possibly a strange accent.  For example, is it Horton, Hawton, Wharton, Orton, Houghton, Haughton ?  Maybe there is a village somewhere nearby with a similar name, I'll use that.

Some of the furthest evolutions originate in Yorkshire:  Woosnam (=Wolstenholme) or Smurfit (=Smirthwaite).

People do that today.  I have had my name mangled in so many ways and my name isn't even that difficult.

[Trishanne]

My Bownass family originally came from Westmorland,  from near Bowness on Windermere. Other variations are Bonas - Boness - Bounes - Bownus - Bones - Bownyss - Bowniss and many other like sounding names.
The Westmorland/Cumbrian accent was very broad so it is easy to understand how so many variations came about.