Category Archives: naming variations

One very small sentence

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One very small sentence – ‘Brother in N.S.W.’ And so began the search for one ‘William Spooner’ who morphed into one ‘Patrick Toohey’. ‘Say what, that doesn’t make any sense!’ I hear the cry. But it will… be patient… I’ll explain. It was 1856 and that short, nearly illegible line scratched onto the immigration record next to the name of Eliza Butler (nee Spooner/Spunner) ‘brother in N.S.W’, was to lead one merry ‘family history dance’ some 164 years later. Eliza … Continue reading

So What’s in a name? Name variants and do they really matter?

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As a genealogist by trade, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had clients tell me something similar to this:  “He/she isn’t from our line because the surname is spelled Byrnes instead of Burns” or “Oh no, ours is Elliot with one ‘t’ – not two”, or “Our line is MacIntosh with an ‘a’ not “McIntosh”. And to be fair, they all truly believed it – they were quite unaware of the ever-annoying variants of surnames when tracing back … Continue reading

The importance of checking variations in the spelling of names.

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I joined the Genealogical Society of Queensland just over 2 years ago and immediately started attending all the information sessions and seminars that were on offer. Numerous times I heard the advice, “ Be sure to consider variations on the spelling of names.” I took this advice and considered different spelling for the tricky surnames like RAILL ( Real, Reale, Rail, Raile) and Conor (Connor, Connors, Coner, O’Connor). However, I made one very serious mistake. I did not look at … Continue reading