Advice on surname variations please.

[Maiden Stone]

...  and so the people didn't know what their name looked like written down, how it was spelt so couldn't even if they wanted to 'correct it' and many later on would just copy how they saw it was written by someone else...so maybe different to how their paent or sibling wrote their name

Spelling didn't become important until the mid 20th century and then because the education system put lots of effort into teaching reading and writing to all, and with all in compulsory education to achieve this.

A couple of examples from Ireland.
A census return with 2 spellings of the family's surname.
A man reported his brother's death. Registrar queried different spellings of his signature and brother's surname. Informant replied that the spelling of the brother's surname was how he'd spelled it when he was alive.

I agree that spelling became important after compulsory education, in late 19th century in England, later in Ireland.

[Maiden Stone]

I would say as far back as I have got would be the correct spelling being Hambling my late Grandfather was a Hambling.

How far back?

[Gadget]

If you're worried about Hamblin and Hambling,  try having Welsh patronymics to contend with.

Many of mine from before the late 1700s were written in the parish records in this form.  When this changed to surnames, I have an example of one brother's surname being Ellis and one being a Roberts. Their father was an Ellis ap Robert.

Gadget

[KGarrad]

The concept of correct spelling or misspelling is a relatively recent phenomenon. Nowadays, we have a heavily engrained sense of "correct spelling" drilled into us from our own education amongst other things, but in the past there wasn't necessarily such a thing as a misspelled word or name. We're talking about societies predominantly using oral communication where "the masses" couldn't read or write (well).

Seems that in modern society, spelling is becoming less important
(Judging by post on various forums)

[oldhippy]

I would say as far back as I have got would be the correct spelling being Hambling my late Grandfather was a Hambling.

How far back?

Bang on the nose 1600

[Erato]

I think the tough part is distinguishing how an ancestor spelled his or her name and how it was recorded by other people.  In my tree, the Stallas quickly became Stellas in the United States.  It seems that Stalla was just too weird for Americans to deal with, so they converted it to something familiar.  Every record after about 1880 [and many before that time] gives the family name as Stella.  Except one.  In 1918, Robert Harvey Stella, grandson and namesake of the original immigrant, registered for the draft using the surname Stalla.  He signed the document and his signature is clear.  And yet, he was born and apparently lived his whole life as a Stella.  His father, his uncle, his aunts, his siblings and his daughter were all called Stella, too.  So, what did Robert think his surname was?  I wish I had more signatures from this family that would clarify their own feelings about their name.

[StefanD99]

One branch of my wife's family are called Murten. A proud Yorkshire family who are also pride themselves in the correct spelling of the name. Their ancestors actually migrated from Norfolk and Suffolk in the mid nineteenth century, and the actual spelling could be any of the many possible combinations of vowels, even Martyn. The handwriting in many of the registers mean it is often impossible to decipher which vowel the writer intended to record with any degree of certainty. A 'foreign' accent could also leave a lot of doubt, with the pronunciation, how a name should be spelt.

[markheal]

The modern computer has a horribly strict and proscriptive naming protocol.

I when I order my tree  surname data in alphabetical order in search of erroneous duplicated people, I find the importance of the use or avoidance of the HYPHEN in double or triple barrelled surnames.

So, to hyphenate or not to hyphenate?

Fitz-Herbert, FitzHerbert, Fitz herbert , Fitz Herbert or Fitzherbert?

Also the FULL STOP and Spacing as in the common abbreviation of the surname SAINT. St.Leger, St. Leger, St Leger or Saint Leger.

I am now tending to avoid all hyphens in the hope for some personal consistency, at least in the strict alphabetical ordering!