Surname Slip-Ups: Baffling Beginnings

It is a truth universally acknowledgement that if we can't find our ancestor's surname, our chances of tracing that ancestral line are pretty much zip, zero, zilch. But a known surname can also prove elusive because it is recorded in such a way that we cannot locate it. This too can prove genealogically disastrous. As it turns out, most surname 'distortions' follow decipherable patterns. Like a dart thrown at a dartboard, if it misses the bulls-eye, it usually hits one of the outer rings. These 'outer rings' are of two types: sound distortions (e.g. Ahearn/Ohearn) and spelling distortions (e.g. Rourke/Bourke). The surnames that are the most difficult to locate are those that experience distortions in the first letter. If that first letter is not recorded as we expect, the surname will often prove difficult - if not impossible - to locate. There are many reasons why a British or Irish surname might suffer such distortions. These range from the obvious (e.g. Philips/Filips, Carney/Kearney) to the bizarre (e.g. Fonseca/Vauzaker). Yet most distortions are predictable if we know what to look for. And you will know what to look for after listening to this webinar.