Genealogy Chat

Searching IGI records I came on a branch of my family named Ecklsor it sounded unusual so I did a national search and turned up a total of 14 individuals, 8 marriages and 6 christenings between 1763 and 1832. Now I can understand how a name dies out but how does a name just appear? where are the entries for there parents? any suggestions or explanations please.

The further you go back, the more unreliable spellings of names are and the more they vary. If the individuals themselves cannot write their names, then it is down to the clergyman making the entry in the register as to how to spell it. And it he is not local, then a broad local accent might well fox him. (I have a Habberley married under the name of Applet - clergyman was italian, groom was a Shropshire yokel! Mutter Habberley under you breath a few times and you can see how it might have happened)

One entry wrongly spelt in a register might then be copied by subsequent clergy. Equally well, it can change back again for a similar reason. With a name as unusual as that, I would suggest that it it may have come from, or later morphed into, something like Ecclesall.

Tina

May also be that they moved into/out of the area around those dates - for instance, in the parish records for Bottesford in Leicestershire I can find my Branstons from about 1762 onwards but there isn't one before that date. Can you identify any surrounding places they may have come from?

My Maskews in Ormskirk are a pain, too - it's like pick a spelling. There are Mascows, Mascos, Maskeas, Maskaes and pretty much any other spelling variant you can think of. (So how they may have pronounced it may be a clue - from the above spellings I think my lot began being pronounced as "Mask-o" and ended up becoming "Mask-yew". Similarly with my Branstons, I've got Brownson, Braunston and Branstone to pick from.