Dear Debra, The English varient of the name "meyer/myer" is "major". If he had wanted to change his Austrian surname to the English varient form, it seems that Maher wouldn't satisfy. Is it possible that he had another surname? For example, maybe the change was less dramatic because the Austian surname used an umlaut. In the past, in absence of an umlaut, many german language people would spell their name as Maeher . But the ae is configuration is a little different from what I can produce on this American keyboard. The ae would actually be much closer in proximity in the german form. This close proximity indicated that the ae is considered ONE letter or sound value, not two distinct alphabetic letters. Mayvbe you've seen this around with oe, ue as well. It's a possibility. Anita Meyer In a message dated 5/15/2003 6:41:45 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: > Hi, > My g.grandfather was in England when my grandfather was born. He changed > his Austrian surname to MAHER. > I'm wondering if it was originally MEYER. > He returned to Austria sometime afetr 1911. > Does anyone have any MEYER's in Austria? > Thanks... > Debra. >