I used to tell my students that family history is the one field where spelling doesn't count. As has been mentioned, whoever made the record wrote what he heard when the names were given. Later on, it was a badge of honor for some learned individuals to spell their own name as many ways as they could, even in the same document! The rule of thumb for name spellings is "if it sounds the same, it probably is the same." Venita On Oct 20, 2013, at 7:29 AM, Janet <[email protected]> wrote: > It seems as though we could never exhaust the topic of name variations. > A cousin of mine asked "Who put the additional "n" in our name?" > Some names appear to have been changed because someone wrote them, transcribed them or > pronounced them differently. > Did that apply to Parish records or was it after formal registration?. I find both > applies. > I have an OPR marriage without the "n" and an OPR birth with the "n". > One could perhaps ask frivolously, "Did someone get to the edge of the page and not put > another consonant on the name where it should have had two?" I suspect we may never > have clear answers but I would like to get near to realising the facts. > Has anyone done a study of a name change? > > Janet > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gordon McLeod" <[email protected]> > > >> This was all posted on Electric Scotland and ancestry.com. >> >> It may be remarked that the prefix Dal is not, or at least not often, as >> generally stated, from the Saxon dahl or dale, but is more frequently a >> corruption of the Norman del or de la, as Dalmellington, De la mouline-ton, >> of the town of the mill. Dalgarnock may therefore imply Del-garnock, or de >> la garneoca, of the large enclosure or defence for cattle, - garne in old >> French signifying a defence. >> >> In the early 1100s few surnames were recorded. The surname Dalgarno comes >> from Dalgarnock which in turn comes from the Gaelic dal gairneig meaning the > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message