Not for the first time, I have come across Pickstock and Pickstone being presented as variants of the same surname (http://www.namethesaurus.com/Thesaurus/search.aspx has them so, for instance) To be true variants, this would mean to me that a family documented as Pickstock somewhere, over the years, has turned into one documented as Pickstone, possibly over several generations. Or vice versa. (And I discount occasional spelling "errors"). I have no idea whether there is any documented justification for this variant pair or whether someone has simply run through a census, evaluated the Soundex values for surnames and decided that all surnames with minimal difference in their Soundex are variants. I've seen several changes in my families' surnames - Healow ends up as Heler (I think the underlying pronunciation is probably "Healer"), for instance, but I am, in fact, sceptical of this Pickstock / Pickstone change as the "k" sound and the "n" sound are surely quite different. So, does anyone know of any documented justification for either this change or one similar? Or any authoritative work on variants? (Probably too much to expect there, as each would need to be driven on a family by family basis, like my Heler origins). Thanks for any thoughts Adrian

Rainey (Dictionary of English Surnames) gives good reasons for not treating them as variants: Pickstock is a locative surname from a place in Shropshire. Although the etymology of Pickstone (also Pixton) is unclear the name is much more widespread (Sussex, Norfolk), making a locative origin unlikely And both are attested back to the 13th C, which means the later derivation of one from the other is impossible. This doesn't discount the slight possibility that in a settlement where both were in use, they might have become confused or interchangeable, but in origin they are clearly independent. peter -----Original Message----- From: sog-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:sog-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Adrian Bruce via Sent: 13 September 2014 17:36 To: SOG Mailing List Subject: [SOG-UK] Pickstock and Pickstone name variants? Not for the first time, I have come across Pickstock and Pickstone being presented as variants of the same surname (http://www.namethesaurus.com/Thesaurus/search.aspx has them so, for instance) To be true variants, this would mean to me that a family documented as Pickstock somewhere, over the years, has turned into one documented as Pickstone, possibly over several generations. Or vice versa. (And I discount occasional spelling "errors"). I have no idea whether there is any documented justification for this variant pair or whether someone has simply run through a census, evaluated the Soundex values for surnames and decided that all surnames with minimal difference in their Soundex are variants. I've seen several changes in my families' surnames - Healow ends up as Heler (I think the underlying pronunciation is probably "Healer"), for instance, but I am, in fact, sceptical of this Pickstock / Pickstone change as the "k" sound and the "n" sound are surely quite different. So, does anyone know of any documented justification for either this change or one similar? Or any authoritative work on variants? (Probably too much to expect there, as each would need to be driven on a family by family basis, like my Heler origins). Thanks for any thoughts Adrian ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SOG-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4765 / Virus Database: 4015/8206 - Release Date: 09/13/14