This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: rlwynne_1 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.winn/1643.1.1.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Well that is an entirely different linguistic problem. I have found it impossible - except to make some allowance for a possibility in surname similarities - to establish absolute familial relationships to anyone bearing a form of the Wynne surname especially in Virginia. This is as there are known occurances of various forms of the surname appearing from the start of Jamestowne to the 1700's that appear in the Virginia record that difer from the spelling of the same individual in the English record. One thing that is certain is that the surname is always "edged" as it evolves to the form "Winn" as this is the straightforward phoenetic spelling of the surname. In the American Colonial period where less sophisticated scribes were inclined if not encouraged the surname almost always was reduced to Winn. The double /n/ always remained as it then could not be confused with win. In the most ancient occurance of the various forms of the surname they arise spelled Gwyn, Wyn and Win. The Anglo/Welsh addition of the second consonant /n/ seems to appear by the mid 14th C though the occurance of the spelling of the surname Gwynne/Wynne in its most complex form is seen in the "Shrewsbury Burgess Roll" in the 1300's and is firmly in place by mid to late 16th C along with the spelling of the alternate Gwynne in the same citation. In London the gentryfication of spelling - the Queen's or King's English - edged the spelling of surnames and other words to a common spelling and the surname is seen in many Londoner's originally spelling thier surname Gwynne or Wynne, evolving to Gwinne or Winne, then to Gwinn or Winn and finally to Winn by the mid 1700's with the intoduction of the first English dictionary that attempted for the first time to coedify various spellings of the same word into one spelling. Prior to this period all words were spelled variously as they were pronounced phoenetically. One can see that though English was the common language of the realm, the hinterlands maintained the old spellings long after the mid 1700's. One might draw a conclusion that the survival of the surname /Wynne/ or /Gwynne/ represents the escape of individuals bearing the surname from the influence of contemporary modernization of spelling at play at the time of the emigrant. Today and for the last 100 years due to the advent of birth certificates surname spelling has been far more consistent with the spelling of the father. Robert Wynne Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.