Hi Ken, With due respect, your comparison is too recent. You need to look further back. I was studying the Rudy and Ruby surnames back in the 1700's, and I think at one time they may have been the same family. Possibly there was a difference of opinion within the early family or even just a mistake when writing the name on the ship manifest or even in a court record once they arrived and it stuck. Sort of what happened with the Bushong who became a Bosang coming in to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the 1700's and then moving in to Virginia. One and the same family. The Rudy's and the Ruby's both have ties in to the early Bushong families and collateral lines in the same areas of the country starting in York and Lancaster County Pennsylvania, and moving down in to Shenandoah County, Virginia and beyond. It would be interesting to see what DNA testing would disclose. Anyone on this List who knows some of these people, need to suggest the testing. Gloria