In regards to how foreign names are spelled....this is where it pays to do an internet search for the alphabet of that particular language... in the case of Czech and Slovak and all other Slavic languages spelled using the Roman alphabet (or variant thereof) they are phonetic, unlike English which has more variations than Wasington politicians have promises :) ! http://www.phespirit.info/alphabet/czech.htm In the case of COPTIS vs KOPTIS... the S in this case in the Czech alphabet is... K always sounds like the K in kit, � which sounds like the sh in the word ship, O is one of 2 O like in hot or � like the oo in the word door...P like pin.... I as in fit... but the T has a sound like the T in top not like a D. However in English when the letter C when followed by E it has a soft sound such as cede, is followed by an A or an O it has the sound as K in kit The above deals with what the speaker is saying in their native language and what the listener hears in their native language! Each language has at least some variations on how a certain letter is pronounced. The case with DUIKER vs DNIKER is entirely another issue and has nothing to do with "try to soundspell(ing) a name as many ways as you can". But it has everthing to do with studying articles about transcribing old handwrting or poor handwriting styles. Here is are links to a very good 2 part example of old handwriting. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/%7Emahudson/images/old-hw1.gif http://homepages.rootsweb.com/%7Emahudson/images/old-hw2.gif When dealing with old handwriting n and u are two lower case letters that are commonly mistaken for one another. Here is a link to an article that I recently wrote about searching Ellis Island ship manifests using Stephen Morse's web page, which is the BEST page for searching Ellis Island. http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2005/01/oddities-of-searching-ellis-island.html So when spelled in Slovak HEGEDI� would sound like HEGEDISH http://www.phespirit.info/alphabet/slovak.htm In regards to ethinicity I can tell you that if John HEGEDISH was Magyar (what ethnic Hungarians call themselves) he would not be telling everyone he was Slovak, the same would go for a Slovak! When we think of Hungary and Austria prior to 1920ish, we need to keep in mind that that Empire which was officially called The Habsburg Empire inc. all or parts of the modern countries of Austria, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Czech Rep., Slovak Rep., Roumania, Serbia, Italy, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and Montengro! And... that Empire had 12 official languages. Too often we think of Hungary having only Magyars living there, Austrians only Austrians (fyi there is no ethnic group called Austrians, most citizens of Austria are ethinically German), Slovak with only Slovaks.... and that simply is not the case... The US was not the first multi-ethnic country in the world! Robert Jerin Croatian Heritage Museum Cleveland Ohio Cynthia Mac Suibhne <barkupthetree@yahoo.com> wrote: Angela, On the subject of name variations, when someone immigrates they either speak no English, little English, broken English or English with an accent sometimes heavy. Keep a pen and paper handy and try to soundspell a name as many ways as you can. My Czech name Koptis was pronounced Cupdish by my grandmother because the 's' made an sh sound but it's been recorded Coptis. My grandfather was from Holland and was a sailor you should see how many ways Duiker can be spelled on ships list including Dniker because whoever rerecorded it couldn't read the first handwriting and made the 'u' an 'n'. Just try to think that you've just knocked on the door of recent immigrants, you need to get some information perhaps someone in the family has just died. Perhaps there's confusion, children crying, lots of people speaking in their native tongue. It's up to you to record name, address, place of birth ect. you get the picture....place of birth might be another thing that's really butchered. Just be patient and keep an open mind on the spellings. Take care, Cindy JANDA143@aol.com wrote: Sorry, I forgot one more question. A lot of the information that was sent to me from you guys had variations in the surname. I tried to follow your footsteps since you were so good to provide the sources of your information. I got lost! For instance, khorne found a lot of information. In the 1900 census he found John HEGDISH, 1910 census found John HIGEDUS, at the Ohiohistory site he found John HEGEOUS. How were these found? From experience are you able to guess at the various spellings or is there a great lesson to be learned by me? This list truly amazes me! Angela Grand Rapids, Mi. ==== OHCUYAHO Mailing List ==== If you have Cuyahoga County data to share or own any books that you could offer lookups in, please the County Coordinator via email at (katemcclellan@vintagerecollections.com). ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Make Yahoo! your home page ==== OHCUYAHO Mailing List ==== Virus warnings RootsWeb's mailing lists are filtered and attachments are not allowed. 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If you are using an e-mail program that stores attachments elsewhere on your computer, such as Eudora, find it there and delete it too. ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx Interested in visting Croatia? Click on the link below to find out about a wonderful tour of Croatia! http://www.kollander-travel.com/

Thanks so much for the information and the resources, Robert! Linda S.