In researching my g-grandfather, I found four different spellings just for him, in Massachusetts in the second half of the 1800's: O'Neill, O'Neil, O'Neal, O'Niel. The next generation seems to have settled on O'Neill, although my grandmother gave my mother the middle name of "Neal", which was from her maiden name of O'Neill or O'Neal, we're not sure anymore how she spelled it! I think the spelling, in this case, depended on whoever was recording the information, at least in Massachusetts. My g-grandfather's parents immigrated from Ireland, probably around 1850. It's a good possibility that they spoke Gaelic. It looks like there can be lots of reasons for different ways to spell a name. Tracy Jackson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles O'Neill" <cponeill@ix.netcom.com> To: <ONEALL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 8:25 AM Subject: Re: [ONEALL-L] re: O'Neill vs Oneill > You will find Catholic Oneils and Protestant O'Neills in the records. > My own Catholic O'Neills had their name spelled variously O'Neill, > O'Neil, ONeill, ONeil. In the baptismal register for my ggrandfather, > Hugh O'Neill, his name is spelled ONeil by the good Catholic priest. > O'Neal, though, does seem predominantly "Protestant" - but spelling was > often phonetic and of names whose owners couldn't spell themselves. So > how the name was spelled was often a function of who was doing the > spelling. There ain't no hard and fast rules about name spellings in > Ireland - or anywhere else back in the 1700s - 1800s. > > Charles O'Neill > > Epanske@aol.com wrote: > > > > I've always been told that O'Neal was Protestant and any O'Neill spelling was > > Catholic. > > Emma > >