How is it that John Strain had all these children and thier last name is Strange and not Strain,

+2 votes
133 views
WikiTree profile: James Strange
in Genealogy Help by
Even more strange (pun intended) is that there are two brothers named James Strain, one born 1806 in Ireland, died June 30, 1849 in Ireland and the other born 1804 in New York, died June 30, 1849 in New York.
I've asked the same question myself!  

Some of our family names evolved a lot also. In the days before computers, I think consistency wasn't as important, overall. Other times, illiteracy was a problem, and I think those who recorded the names were spelling phonetically, maybe some were too polite or too busy to ask for clarification of what they heard, or they thought they knew better.

In my family it happened most with Scottish and Irish names. Giffin becomes Givan in some records. My Scottish ancestor Dechman became then Diteman and Dykeman, possibly because the person wanted their name to be said a certain way, or because a clerk used the spelling they assumed or thought was right.  

Other times it could be that the ancestor wanted to make the change, it still happens.
Yes, I guess the parents were pretty set on having a kid w that name. I've found in one other family tree

1 Answer

+3 votes
Ive encountered this on my Tree. Esp with my Nagle's using both Nagel then later Nagle. Whether they were registered phonetically or changed the name themselves is unknown, the parents married under Nagel, birth of their first child was under Nagel, but subsequent children were registered under Nagle and all of them(parents included) where from here on in referred to as Nagle which makes me believe they may have changed the name. With the multiple spellings I use the LNAB as the main spelling and list other spellings in other surnames giving them an A.k.a
by John Walker G2G6 Mach 1 (11.0k points)

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