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Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

Is your surname here?

    • 2,555 members
    • 2,324 studies
    • 8,271 surnames

Spelling

The Spelling of Surnames

It is commonly accepted that for the printed word, the spelling system became standardised by the end of the seventeenth century. Powerful influences had been the introduction of the printing press (with spelling conventions set by the printers) and the publication of dictionaries. This standardisation was not echoed in the recording of surnames. Famously, Shakespeare had 5 other variants of his name, in his lifetime. Indeed, standardisation did not arrive until the advent of mass literacy in the twentieth century. In my initial analysis of the 1900 Portsmouth Burgess Rolls, I am struck by the lack of name standardisation. And this in a section of the populace that one would expect to have a higher incidence of literacy.

Common spelling changes

Added e or es suffix losse, frende or motheres
Doubling or singling consonants allways, shoppe, ffawkes
Doubling or singling vowels shep, thret, gode (sheep/treat/good)
Interchangeable vowel sounds e.g. o/ou, i/ie/y and w/u could/cold, first/fyrst/fierst
J written as I Ianuary
U written as V Maior

Spelling changes in names

F and Ph Fair, Phair; Fazackerley, Phizackerly
C replaced by S or K Cely, Seeley; Curtler, Kirtler
ks replaced by x Dickson, Dixon; Wicks, Wix
i and y Sime, Syme
-er as a final syllable Bowrer, Bowra; Vanner, Vannah
Doubling consonants Dannce, Dansse

In surname studies, there is a complicated relationship between pronunciation, orthography and, presumably, the influence of the standardisation conventions of printed text.

Modern Spelling

As mentioned, surnames have resisted, or have been placed outside, the drive for spelling standardisation (in contrast to forenames, where variance is allowed, but is very constricted e.g. Catherine, Katherine, Kathryn). This is perhaps due to the perceived need for surnames to be differentiated from common nouns, in a way other than capitalisation. This process seems to apply particularly to succinct names, and is achieved through a process of padding. This padding is found in 3 forms:

  1. The addition of a superfluous letter ‘e’
  2. Consonant doubling
  3. The substitution of the letter ‘y’ for ‘i’
  • In some cases, this trend has become fixed. The surname ‘Taylor’ is a notable example : this form has superceded the original ‘Tailor’.
  • In others, both the original noun-form and a spelling variation exist side by side e.g. ‘Daw’ and ‘Dawe’.
  • Intriguingly, some common noun surnames have resisted modification e.g. notably, the surnames ‘Black’ and ‘Flint’
  • Colours as surnames seem particularly resilient to amendment e.g. Black, Grey, Brown, White. With the last, it might be argued that ‘Whyte’ is an exception, but this is predominantly found in Scotland, where it actually outnumbers ‘White’. Other influences are presumably in play. Blue, incidentally, is predominant in the west coast of Scotland (Bute and Argyll).

    As a counter argument, it must be noted that many of the variable padded surnames are of a lower frequency than the main form.
    This ‘Crosse’ is far rarer than ‘Cross’; and similarly for Webbe, Locke, Steele, Brooke etc. The situation is reversed with consonant-doubled surnames, which have become the norm- especially the plural form e.g. Gib-Gibb-Gibbs

    1. Superfluous

    The addition of the letter can be discerned in four types:

    1. After a short vowel and a consonant-letter cluster

    Examples:

    Fixed form Crabbe, Legge, Snagge, Thynne
    Variable forms Ask(e), Cross(e), Lock(e), Webb(e)

    2. After -oo- and a consonant (usually /k/)

    Examples: Brook(e), Cook(e), Hook(e)

    3. After a long vowel (spelt with more than 1 letter)

    Examples:

    Fixed form Blencowe, Coote, Doyle, Keyne, Rowe, Toole
    Variable forms Beal(e), Broom(e), Daw(e), Down(e), Kean(e), How(e), Neal(e), Steel(e)

    4. Vowel spellings with r

    Examples:

    Fixed form Bourne, Burke, Herne, Doore, Thorne, Warne
    Variable forms Clark(e), Ford(e), Horn(e), Sharp(e)

    2. Consonant doubling

    This is particularly seen with the (end) consonants p b t d g m n and r

    Examples:

    -pp- Alsopp, Chipp, Copp
    -bb- Chubb, Cobb, Dobb(s), Gibb(s), Hobbs, Stubbs, Tibbs
    -tt- Bartlett, Blissett, Boycott, Brett, Corbett, Follet, Hewitt, Perrett, Platt, Smollett, Truscott
    -dd- Budd, Dodd, Judd, Todd
    -gg- Bigge, Bragge, Clegg, Hogg, Kellogg, Legge, Pegge, Snagge, Twigg
    -mm- Gomme, Grimme, Mumm
    -nn- Donne, Flynn, Lynn, McCann, Nunn, Thinn, Venn
    -rr- Barr, Carr, Kerr, Starr, Storr

    3. Letter ‘Y’ Substitution

    Examples would be Taylor, Smythe, Pye, Wylde. In some cases, these forms have predominated because they are seen as having archaic value, in the same sense that the form ‘Ye Olde Tea-Shoppe’ is used. The substitution adds to the written sense that this type of name is of historic longevity.

    Combinations

    All the above examples include instances of names that combine 2 types, e.g. consonant doubling and the superfluous e e.g. Lily vs Lilley, Crab vs Crabbe

    Idiosyncratic spellings

    Spellings in which there are no correspondences between spelling and pronunciation.

    Examples:

    Batchelor, Beauchamp, Cholmondeley, Featherstonehaugh, Marjoribanks, St John

    Sources:
    E Carney A survey of English spelling
    V Cook The English writing system

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    Modern British Surnames

    ww1

    • Modern British Surnames
      • About the research
      • Distribution
      • Variance
        • Pronunciation
        • Clergy
        • Dialects
        • Spelling
        • Developments
        • Deviants
        • Appendix 1
        • Appendix 2
        • Appendix 3
      • Statistics
      • Bibliography
      • Teaching
      • Taxonomy

    Other Guild Websites

    You may find our other Guild websites of interest:

    • Members’ Websites Project
    • Surname Cloud
    • Guild Members’ records on FamilySearch
    • Guild Marriage Locator

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