Is there more than one way to correctly write “Anderson”, not "Andersen" on whole FamilyTree?

Lena 吴志宏

Question :)

For example, the surname of "Andersen" had been inputted into the entire family tree wrongly. The right surname is "Anderson".

Is there a better way we can correct it without making changes one by one, on their entire family tree?

Thank you,

Lena

AndLinda

Lena, there would be no way to change the name all at once throughout the tree. You would take a chance of changing a name that was really correctly spelled as Andersen since it is a universal tree. It is better to do them one at a time, looking at records or documents for how the name was spelled. If the name in a document is spelled with the wrong name and you know for sure it is your ancestor and know they spelled their name Andersen, you can change the name and there can be a note put regarding the record or put Andersen as an alternate name. This way people looking at the record won't be changing it back to fit the document. Many times enumerators would just ask a person for their name and not how it was spelled and they would put their own spelling for it. Another thought is making sure the ancestral line is correct since Andersen comes from Norway and Anderson comes from Sweden.

Good luck.

Gordon Collett

Consistent spelling is an artifact of modern times. The farther back you go, the more variants you are going to find and it becomes impossible to say any spelling is right or wrong.

It's also kind of a myth that Andersen comes from Norway and Anderson comes from Sweden. Going through parish birth records for Norway I have seen all sorts of variant spellings on patronymics including sen, ssen, son, sson, zen, sen. There are plenty of Norwegians who used the -son form. (https://www.digitalarkivet.no/search/76?forenamn=&etternamn=larsson%7Clarson&kjonn=&rolle=&stilling_stand=&bustad=&fodestad=&fodselsaar=&fodselsdato=&aar=&dpdato=&stadfesta=&sokn_kyrkje=&ekte_uekte=&vigd=&introd=&dpstad=&merknader= ) Too many to write it off as the priests making mistakes in the records.

Then there is the 1920 census that gives over 10,000 results searching for last names ending in -son not born in Sweden (entered as the country). Scanning through them you will see that few of these were born in cities in Sweden: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/search/1920?fornavn=&etternavn=*son&kjonn=&familiestilling=&sivilstand=&yrke=&fodselsaar=&fodested=-sv*&ny_husholdning=&bosted=&gaardsnummer=&bruksnummer=&sort=rel

Lena 吴志宏

Thank you for your time and knowledge to answer this question, Andlinda, and Gordon! The question is from one of my patrons during the online consultation. I did share your information with the patron about your opinions. 😊