Spelling of old surnames

LegacyUser

Peter Heiniger said: Old surnames were often copied as such and not in today's official spelling. To avoid duplicate entries, please note the following correspondences for Switzerland:
Lyb und Gut = Leibundgut
am Weg = Amweg
zum Stein = Zumstein
Stephan = Steffen
etc.
Genealogists always use today's spelling. Consult the Swiss family name book: https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/famn/

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: "Genealogists always use today's spelling."

Really?

Genealogists should use the spelling used in the original documents. In the vitals section we are to record the birth name for the person. Other spellings should be recorded as alternate names in the "other section" of a person's profile.

Names are spelled in many different ways. What is "proper" in some circles is wrong in others. For instance, Huber is a Swiss/German name. Correctly spelled, it is Hüber and anglicized as either Huber or Hoover. The Hoover spelling is closer to the Swiss/German pronunciation.

Clark is another one that is interesting. It is spelled with and without the e at the end. When my Clark ancestor immigrated from Ireland, they spelled the name as Clarke. But within a few years, the spelling was changed to Clark. Then several generations later, one of the families went back and started using Clarke.

The point being is that it depends upon the situation.

For the most part, the duplicate checker will catch common variations in spellings. It certainly does not catch all of them, but when I search for a person in the massive tree, I'll use whatever spelling is common to the family. The Find feature (search for the tree) will accommodate variations for instance, between Clark and Clarke.

The system is not perfect, because it does accommodate Hüber and display Huber, Hubber, Hueber, Hubert, Haber, Aber, and Hubbard, but not Hoover.

Families spelled the name either as Huber or Hoover. The other variations are seldom applied to the family, but they are often misinterpreted by those entering the name. I've had to correct more than one person when they wanted to spell the name Hubert.

The problem is that in many cases, the recorder often spelled a name the way they heard it. Thus, you get the variations that i've noted.

LegacyUser

Adrian Bruce said: This illustrates the pitfalls of FamilySearch trying to create a system that works for all if someone, somewhere, follows different customs and practices.

That said, it would be completely impractical and probably impossible for some of my ancestors to be entered using a modern spelling. My ancestors in the 1700s include "Healow" and today my branch uses the spelling "Heler". Any 1700s "Healow" records will have been indexed as "Healow" because (probably) no-one apart from me has realised they became "Heler". And if the "Heler" spelling is used for FS FT people living in the 1700s, the system therefore won't find any indexed records for them.

I am not sure to which the "official spellings" of the Swiss names are "official" for government purposes or "official" for genealogical purposes, but us awkward Anglo-Saxons would not recognise the concept of an official spelling.

And by the way, the idea that "von Allmen is listed under the letter V, Di Carlo under the letter D" will upset some in other cutures where (say) "Peter van der Zijl" has a surname of "van der Zijl" that should be sorted under "Z" (ack to https://www.tamurajones.net/Genealogy...)

LegacyUser

Juli said: No, genealogists emphatically do NOT "always use today's spelling". Even in languages that have standardized spelling, those standards generally do not extend to names. Surnames very frequently preserve archaic spellings and regional variations. The correct name for any particular family has to be determined based on records about that specific family.

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: Another comment tied to my surname. I've run across the name Heuber on a number of occasions. The origin of that family name does not appear to be Swiss or German, but British.

LegacyUser

Erika Campbell said: If you want to trace a family back you need to use the spelling of the name as it was written at the time, otherwise you will not find them. I place different spellings in the "Other" section to preserve the spelling. The same applies to place names.
Erika

LegacyUser

Bosch said: The surname I have NOW in my official documentation (Bosch) does not respect current orthographic rules (Bosc), but 19th century and older spellings. Nobody in my family has any intention to correct that.