Variation in Surname Spellings (General)

by admin , Forest of Dean, Thursday, September 24, 2009, 04:17 (5614 days ago) @ Matt

When you are tracing ancestors, one of the most common problems you will come across is the variation in surname spellings.

Here are some of the reasons why this happens.

Until the 19th century there were no standardised spellings for surnames. Around 90% of the population could not read or write, so spelling was not important.

Most documents were written by someone in authority, and when writing someone's name, he could only go by what was given to him by speech. So, when one of your Reid ancestors got married, he would give his name to the vicar, who would write it down as he heard it. Therefore, this line of your family can be found under REID, REED or READ - and possibly even REDE, all of which sound exactly the same.

There are probably a number of reasons why you sometimes find the surname listed as BROWN REID. One possibility is that the mother of BROWN children re-married after the death of her first husband to a REID. The children then used the surname of BROWN REID.

marriage of George READ and Ann BROWN (I don't know when they were married)

If you tell us the approximate year of the marriage and the location of where they lived we maybe able to help.