Genealogy Chat

I have found the Emmett and smith Link, He was Know as Jack but his first name was Emmett. I have now been able to trace his family back to 1851! and to Scotland not Ireland! Genealogy is harder than I thought :P

Maxine We must have been writing at the same time, but I agree with you. Some of the hardest people to be found are the origins of the Irish rellies. Pat x

There were a lot of people who changed their names for one reson or another. There were times over the course of Irish History that some leaving the Country wanted to lessen their Irishness hence many droped the 'O' from the beginning of their names or as other have suggested changes whether radical of slight may have made a lot of them more comfortable. Another reason people would change their names and was common they did not want to be found by their people back in Ireland the men who left their wives for example. Emmett is a Surname and it became popular to use it as a first name, more than likely because of the leader Robert Emmett, you still hear the name often today. Pat x

Hi We have irish ancestors and they changed there name due to all the fighting in Ireland, so be very careful, we only found out because of a relative who told us about this, one of them died under the changed name but the others used there original name, I think the change of name on the census was done so they could not be found. Maxine

nudge

I know for a fact my G G grandad changed his name from Ventimiglia to Miles, his son (my G Grandad) was allowed to join the navy in ww1 as an able seaman! but my G G Grandfather could only be a chief steward because he was Sicilian! He left Sicily when he was 12 and was at sea most of his life. Smith is such a pain in the bum...i have two Smith's marrying....a Jones somewhere and a Williams......:S

It's possible that if he came over to England he didn't want people to know his Irish roots. Story has it that one of mine (haven't checked it out yet) changed his name from McQuade to Wade as he was in the British Army.

Claire Who knows? There is nothing to prevent someone changing either or both or all their names. If it was done by deed poll, you can look here: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/name/ Otherwise, it could be a problem. I presume "Smith" was chosen because it is so anonymous - apologies to all Smiths! I have a great-great-grandfather called Emmets Matthews and he is variously transcribed as Emmet, Emit, Emil. His grandson was called Thomas Emmets, but seems to have changed this to Emmet(t) during his lifetime. I've always assumed that the first Emmets I know of was called this after someone's surname. Certainly I don't think we are connected with any Irish heroes! nell

I have researched the name Emmett which links back to Robert Emmett, my G grandmother was very religious and called her relative (not sure how far back) An Irish Hero, I think this search will be very expensive and extensive! But she said "whoever" Emmett changed his name to Smith. Would it be at the time of Robert Emmett's execution? 1803 or would it have been after, just because my ancestor was supposedly related? bearing in mind my G Grandmother was born in 1900 in Liverpool?

I'd like some info on this too, as I've just discovered that some of my Irish relatives also changed their surname! Could it have something to do with religion? Regards Patricia

I am struggling a bit at the moment mainly due to name changes in the family, I have one sorted, and found family in Sicily. One a little closer to home is harder to find, I am told (could be a lie) that my one of my Irish ancestors changed his name from Emmett to Smith (possibly around 1850-1870), I have found reasons for this, but I don't know if it's true. Would a 1st name and surname be changed or just a surname? Hope someone can shed some light on this for me MERRY XMAS! Claire Smith