Hate to tell you this Norman, but Thornton also occurs in Ireland, usually as a synonym for native Irish names which have the element ‘thorn’ (as in the things that prick you) in them. I grew up in the west of Ireland and it was often used as the English form of the surname O Draighnean (draighnean = blackthorn), the more usual anglicisation of which is Drennan. I wonder how many Scottish Thorntons are descendants of Irish immigrants? Fiona — 5538 - Duignan & variants (1) the name of an Elizabethan planter family (2) A synonym for the native Irish surnames Drennan (Ir. O Draighnan), Skehan (Mac Sceach On 25 Nov 2014, at 14:23, Norman Thornton via <goons@rootsweb.com> wrote: > I am interested in how we speak as I am involved in adult education and > would make some points to help those looking for name variants, at least in > Scotland > > Never discount replacing one vowel sound with the other four or y I am > surprised how often my learners mishear or miswrite vowel sounds. thus there > are Thorntins out there > > In the Scottish records there are wide variations. I drew up a table which > cross checked the two syllables that make up my name and all their variants > then checked for each combination of the two. In some cases you might only > get one or two entries in the Old Parish Records, and for some none. But you > had covered all the bases, and who is to say the one off is not the one you > are looking for. > > I sometimes try and think of unconnected words that might be mistaken for > the surname - in this case mangy would be an option. One amusing one I > spotted was Wardrop and Wardrobe > > Never forget the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe - there are plenty of Thornetons > and Thorntonnes of that ilk out there. In Scotland these die out as we move > into the 19thC. but some survive to a later date. By now we are all modern > up to date Thorntons, or so I think. > > Interestingly there are exotics out there. I am looking at the > Fortons/Forntons in the Old Parish Records they appear as a brief flash in > the pan then either left or morphed into? I rather think conformed to the > modern spelling of Thornton. > > Multiple spellings of surnames for the same family appear through time. In > the case of Christian names in my family there is a distinctive > Patrick/Peter swap for the same person repeated in some generations. > > I have never been able to utilise the advanced search in Scotland's People > to reflect all these possibilities but use the free starter search to look > at options. > > Reassuringly there must be some underlying principles that hold true over > the centuries - in my experience few of the more bizarre options actually > appear. > > Norman Thornton > > I am building on my existing variants before rebuilding my spread sheet of > Thorntons in Scotland pre 1855. > > Norman Thornton > > Working in Aberdeen in the eighties I found the Aberdonian accent > incomprehensible for the first few weeks and they thought I was from London > when I am actually from Edinburgh. Local accents can distort names in > different ways. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: mingay via > Sent: Monday, November 24, 2014 11:10 PM > To: GOONS Forum > Subject: [G] re :- Puzzled? > > Hi All, > I am overwhelmed by the number of replies. The many suggestions > as to the way forward has taken my breath away and will need much time to > mull over which is the best or more suitable to me and therefore the whole > 'puzzle' will be put on the back-burner for now. > > It is so interesting that the signitures on the applications for USA > naturalisation of three brothers, James Patrick & Lawerence are all quite > clearly MINGY. This corresponds with the transcription of there baptisms in > Ireland, their father being Edward MINGY but there are very few other > recorded MINGY, which is 'where I came in' as they say. > > A question which is raised from all of this is ' How do we learn to write > our name', in general our parents showed us. But what happens when as was > years ago the parents were illiterate, the answer they relied on the parish > Priest/Vicar or whatever to write the surname as they thought fit. This is > then made more complicated when the 'accent' of the 'recorder' is not the > same as the 'locals' and further more in the case of Ireland where there are > other languages being use, ie Gaelic and/or Latin, makes even further > difficulties in ascertaining the correct spelling of a surname, but you all > new that anyway. > > I will leave the data in my database at the point when the MINGY/MINGEY > emmigrated to USA and any thereafter and not try and trace it back to > Ireland, making a note for my 'heir apparent' to sort out this puzzle. > > Once again MANY THANKS to all replies. > > > Regards Tony > Anthony John MINGAY, now in NZ once of Kent & Suffolk, England but still > researching Worldwide the surname MINGAY & its variants. > http://www.mingayhistory.co.uk. > > _____________________________________________ > > RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GOONS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message > > _____________________________________________ > > RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GOONS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message