Often, beginning genealogists miss their ancestors by sticking too firmly to the idea that “that’s not how my family spelled their name, so it can’t be my ancestor.”
This statement ignores these basic truths:
1) Ancestors who were illiterate would have no idea how to spell their own name, let alone how someone else should spell it.
2) Until the twentieth century, spelling rules were far more flexible and fluid than what we think of today. That was true for routine words, not just surnames.
3) Even if your family was highly educated and truly did feel strongly about how their name should be spelled — the record taker might not have been as concerned. Ultimately, it depends on how the record creator chose to spell the name – not what your family thought about how it should be spelled.
4) Human error happens.
I’ve divided the types of errors into three basic categories – “sound alikes,” “look alikes,” and simple human errors.
SOUND ALIKES
Many so-called “spelling errors” can be attributed to various ways of spelling the same sounds. Consider the following situations:
Even single letters can sound similar. Think about a time when you may have had to spell your name for someone on the telephone. How many of our letters sound similar when said? B, C, D, E, G, P, T are just some examples. Even if your ancestor was spelling their name for the record-creator, it might not have been heard and recorded correctly.
This matter is further complicated if there was an accent involved. Perhaps your ancestor was an immigrant, struggling to still learn English, or unable to speak it at all. Maybe the census taker was from Boston, but had recently moved to southern Alabama. Undoubtedly differences in pronunciations might affect how a name or other information was recorded.
I personally remind myself to “think like a third-grader” when I’m trying to develop a list of alternate spellings for a surname.
LOOK ALIKES
Anyone who has looked at original handwritten records knows how difficult they can be to read. If the ink has faded or blurred, or the original microfilm image was poorly filmed, legibility is further compromised. It can be easy to misread letters, and even a single letter may throw off your search.
Many genealogical search interfaces, like that of Ancestry, allow you to control how precisely your search term is matched, and broader matches catch many misspellings of little consequence (like an O being misinterpreted as an A for example). But sometimes, a misread or truly misspelled name may not be able to be picked up by a search engine.
Just as there are audible confusions among letters that sound the same (B, C, D, P), likewise there are written letters that can often be visually confused. Lowercase As, Os, and Us may be almost indistinguishable. Uppercase I and J are extremely similar, and may rely heavily on the rest of the word to be interpreted accurately. Lowercase double Rs can look like a single N. The lowercase letters N, M, and U can also shape-shift into one another. Think about likely visual misinterpretations as you conduct your searches, and use these “misspellings” in your search terms.
HUMAN ERROR
These examples point out our third category of misspelling – human error.
All of the indexes and data contained in databases like Ancestry are typed in by people. And despite many levels of quality control and review, human error can still occasionally creep in. Transpositions, extraneous insertions, or accidental deletions and oversights within the typed indexes can occur.
SEEKING OUT MISSPELLINGS
It can be helpful to compile a list of alternate spellings, either that you have brainstormed yourself, or more importantly, that you have actually encountered in records. Use this list of alternate spellings when searching databases and indexes.
Recognize that as a practical matter, few individuals will have their name spelled precisely and consistently in all records throughout their entire lifetime. Records keepers might have been careless, uneducated, or used different spellings for the same phonetic sounds. Handwriting interpretation and transcription is always difficult. And even the most detail-oriented and accurate people may still occasionally make small errors which could impact your search. The myth of believing that “our family always spelled it that way” can impair your research, and hamper your progress. Using broader, “sounds like” settings and thinking of creative, alternative ways to spell your family’s surname can help move your research forward.
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