This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: Dozenelk6 Surnames: Blair, Blaire, Blar, De Blar, Blare, Belair, Belaire, Blyer Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.blair/3625.1.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: My Blair ancestors were Ulster Scots, but I have found their names also spelled, Blar, Blare, Belaire, Belair, De Blar, Blear, Blyer as well as Blair and Blaire. These are some of the same spellings that some of your French Canadian Blairs records contain. The spellings indicate how the person spelled who wrote the documents. Not necessarily the spellings our ancestors actually used, unless you have their signature. Please don't dismiss a possible link due to document's spelling of names only. Older records are just spelled every which way. Some of our ancestors may not have known how to read, write or spell either. Then the census taker, or document maker just had to guess by the sound of the name they gave. Some who wrote those old documents were awful spellers. Especially census takers. They were only required to read and write, not spell. Now that I've said that, it was also common to change the way a surname was spelled when they migrated to a new country. Don't ask me why because I don't know. So MY ancestors in England in the 1500's and prior, used mostly De Blar. When they m! oved to Scotland, they mostly used Blar and Blare. When they went to Northern Ireland they used mostly Blaire and Belair. In the USA they mostly use Blair. I just noticed that it is this way in my own ancestral line. Sometimes the old county spelling was used a short while in the new country, before the spelling change was noticable. We should consider all semilar spellings of our surnames as possibilities until we prove them otherwise. Some surprises often await us. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.