When researching your family history one of the largest challenges you will face is variation in the spelling of names. Most of us think of our name as fixed in stone: it has a proper and acceptable spelling and pronunciation, but this is not so in historic records.

Some cases of name changes may seem understandable: the use of a nickname or shortened version of a first name, a family dropping a repeated letter from the spelling of their surname, or a person translating their name so as to fit into their new culture when they immigrate.

But sometimes changes were imposed on the individual’s historic documents by someone else. A name may be translated by the person writing it down, such as a francophone recording ‘Henry’ as ‘Henri’, for instance. Perhaps the linguistic difference between the individual and the recorder was so great that the name was recorded phonetically or as a ‘best guess’. In addition to these recording errors, transcription errors also occur.

When historic records are transcribed and entered into an index, errors frequently occur. Often we use indexes to search through large quantities of a document type, like census records. If the person doing the transcribing is hurrying, or not familiar with particular handwriting, they can misread the information, turning one name on the document into another name in the index. It is for this reason that you should check the original documents where possible.

You may then ask, how can you find the right person in the records? The answer is through multiple lines of evidence. Large family groups on census documents are easiest. First, I check that all the appropriate family members are present. If they are not, I try to find out why; perhaps they married, moved away or died. I may use more than one person’s name to find one family. This works great if there is an unusual name to use as a search term. I had a case where I was fortunate enough to be dealing with a ‘Euphemia’; often, however, there is a frustrating repetition of names within a family, throughout generations and on collateral branches. Then I look at location to confirm that the person is where I expect them to be and is not some other person with the same name. Then I cross-check information such birthdate, place of birth, occupation, etc. Lastly, I use multiple sources of information such as census documents; birth, marriage, and death certificates; travel records; newspaper articles; and maps. Hopefully the combined lines of evidence corroborate each other.

So, as you search for your relatives, consider ways that their names may have changed over time, either through their conscious decisions or through the errors of others. Use family groups and multiple lines of evidence to find your ancestors as you play the Name Game.

This article was originally printed in the Bergen News and is being reprinted with permission.