Hello, Everyone. Janet asked, <quote> Has anyone done a study of a name change? <end quote> Yes, many people have. Some have similar qualifications to my doctorate in philology; others seem to have managed quite well without formal training. The important fact to grasp is that there was little concept of correct spelling before the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And, at all times some individuals have favoured one spelling of their surname over other spellings, with varying degrees of enthusiasm and determination. At other times, the spoken language has undergone changes which vary from the gradual to the quite sudden. There was, for example, a vowel shift in the speech of the inhabitants of the North East of Scotland which happened abruptly in the 1740s. Most RUDDACHs became RIDDOCHs. To confirm this, all you have to do is look through parish registers and session minutes written in the middle of the 18th century. For practical purposes, I am inclined to adopt one spelling for each family and each personal name, and make certain I record variations as they occur in particular records. Regards, Alyson (no i, no second l, please...)

Hi Folks, The following thoughts may be of some interestregarding name variations. As others have said the spelling of a name in an OPR by the record keeper, be it the minister, session clerk or whoever, varied according to the whim of the individual recorder.  I can think of a couple of reasons why the person presenting the information may not have been able to dictate the spelling of the name.  He may not have been literate enough to tell the difference or not confident enough to challenge an authority figure to have the spelling of the name corrected.  The power of such an authority figure is evident in the records kept by Robert YOUNG, the first Registrar in the District of Benholm, formerly Benholm Parish in Kincardineshire. He seems to have appointed himself as the authority on the correct spelling for a number of family names.  He changed McBEY to McBAY, BLEWS to BLUES, MOUAT to MOWAT and McKAY to MACKIE. Robert Young is not likely to have been unique.  After the setting up of Regstrars in 1855 families were issued with certificates, these ordinary families now had important documents which would be kept.  The names recorded on marriage certificates would determine the spelling used later registering births, birth certificates would determine the spelling on death certificates.  It was inevitable that the spelling of names would become fixed through such a process. Today of course, as Alyson has shown us, it is the individual who has the power to dictate how their name should be written and pronounced. Cheers Sy