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What Name To Use??

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  • What Name To Use??

    Morning,
    am looking on paternal side of things - we now use MATTHEWS, but obviously expected to find variations, such as 1x T or Matthew without the 'S' etc but have found another name MATTHAM in regular use, which is used for what seems to be a whole generation for a period of time, i.e. my Gt. Gt. Grandfather and his siblings all seemed to use Matthews in the early years (some with on 1 T) but around 1881 & and some 1891 census they are listed as MATTHAM, and then 1901 back to Matthews - my Gt Grandparents Wedding Cert. even has MATTHAM quite clearly on the transcript so this is what I've used when ordering - will be interesting to see name of his parents when it arrives, hopefully end of this week.

    My question to you all is what name should I use when entering into FTM?? Should I just put Matthews, which is what I'm looking for OR enter as shown on the Census - also what about Ancestry? When searching other family names, if it looked correct to me but had been mis-transcribed I added the alternative name, do you think it a good idea to do so in this case? as with this it does look as if written correctly -I know it's the correct family as I do have some certs. and all the dates, location and children names fit -
    Suggestions / comments appreciated.

  • #2
    It's a tricky one, isn't it? If it were my family, then when adding them to my tree I would normally put whatever spelling was on their birth certificate or baptism entry (of course, sometimes those two differ from each other, in which case I would go with the birth cert spelling). When searching, I would use wildcards if possible, i.e. Mat*h* or something similar.
    KiteRunner

    Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
    (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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    • #3
      Thanks - I have been using a wildcard but thought you could only put the * at the end - so that's a new trick I've learnt - what do you reckon about 'advising' possible alternatives on Ancestry - of course if any others are looking for Matthews may help them??

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      • #4
        thanks ladies - will sort that out when home later -

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        • #5
          With one family I use Ingott (Ingate) as the surname, but for ones where there are obvious misspellings and such, I use the correct name and make a note on the source screen showing how the name has been spelt

          (But I don't have FTM, so I don't know if you can do it that way)
          Vikki -
          Researching Titchmarsh and Tushingham

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          • #6
            I tend to put the birth name as the main name and annotate censuses etc. with the alternative spelling. I don't have many. The main one is my great-grandfather, who decided to change his name from McK..... to Mack.....
            Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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            • #7
              Gill it surprised me, just how many people have the same problem as you. I have it with my Hingley, Ingley, Hinsley, Hingleby, Hingoldby and eventually Ingleby.

              I suppose it's down to dialect in different areas of the country and illiteracy in some cases.

              On FTM I use 'Ingleby' ... otherwise the program seems to get confused.....but I do have it all down in 'Hard Copy' ........... as the name came through the census.

              Jean ........ wish the family were around to tell them ........
              Jean....the mist is starting to clear

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              • #8
                census always spelt it wrong they spelt how it sounded when the person told them the name.brenda xxx

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                • #9
                  I have found my Matthews family mistranscribed as Marthers and Maththews!
                  ~ with love from Little Nell~
                  Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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                  • #10
                    Jean

                    What part of the country are your Hingleys from. It is a main name for me.


                    Pam
                    Pam

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Little Nell View Post
                      I have found my Matthews family mistranscribed as Marthers and Maththews!
                      Though hopefully the registrar or enumerator got closer than the transcriber. Of course, many people didn't know how to spell their name anyway.
                      Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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                      • #12
                        From Derbyshire Pam ........ oh... I see you've got Hingleys as well. Yes it's a main family....if I find the right one ...that is.
                        Jean
                        Jean....the mist is starting to clear

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                        • #13
                          Yes Tom...... there's a lot of them about and most of them seem to be around the West Midlands. I didn't know I was looking for 'Hingley', until I got back to the 1871 census......very strange........the name changed that many times.

                          Jean
                          Jean....the mist is starting to clear

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                          • #14
                            Morning all,

                            As Jean says may be dialect, I had several Gt. relatives who were born in Billericay and had strong accents, a Gt. Uncle of mine had such a broad Essex accent my ex-hubby couldn't understand him! So makes sense that pronounciation could have been misconstrued - and incorrectly written as Brenda suggests - and Little Nell thanks for other ideas to look for on the Matthews spelling - I have a couple of Gt.Gt. Uncles that I can't find so will try using those 'options' as well as wiild card searches.
                            Re. the FTM I've entered most of these as Matthews and as Jean says FTM gets a bit confused when you try to alter a spelling so will leave as is - I know it's wrong but will make a note in the facts sheet and my own hard copy files - again thanks for ideas/help

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                            • #15
                              My Hingleys go back to 1754 in Kingswinford. Before that they came from Seckington, Warwick, where they were called Insley.

                              I have a few instances of names changing. Its sometimes this that causes the brick walls


                              Pam
                              Pam

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