what is best way to decide which "old" spelling of a name to use

Question

When I know the current name spelling I use it and give variants as "other last names" when needed. But what about names when I am not sure what the current spelling is? I have one family with : Weede, Weedy, Wady, Woody and more. No idea what they eventually became because the one I am following married and there went her name.

I usually use the first name I come across, and keep using  it even if I find other sources with other spellings,  because otherwise I  have to go through the "are you sure you want to change this name" process. What is the approved method here.

Answer 1

This is so confounding! I know the "standard" is LNAB--last name at birth.That's great--if you can find a written birth record. Most of are forced to rely on records which were made when people didn't read and write "standardly." Census takers and law clerks spelled names the way they sounded from people with strong dialects who frequently could only make their mark when asked to sign a legal document. Sometimes, if there is a gravestone, I go by the last name chiseled there.I figure if they wanted a lasting stone monument for which they paid a stone engraver, the name there was most accurate. Women are harder than men, yes, because they almost 100% of the time before the last 50 years or so (in the United States) took the surname of their husband. But, if you can find a brother or some other male relative with records you might can glean the LNAB or correct surname from that. I wish you luck because this is a problem for all of us.

Comments

I have even found egregious spelling errors in the GRO which I thought was supposed to be THE standard.

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Even the GRO is subject to the ability of the transcribers to read the original documents.

That's one reason I like the images available on some of the Irish records (for free), Tasmania's historical records (free, so far), and those on Scotland's People (for a cost).  At least if you can see an image of the original register page, you get to make the decision of what is correct (or closest to correct).