Ancestry/Genealogy

sybylla

(8,655 posts)

12. Look into historical tension of the era in which the name changes.

Sat Mar 9, 2013, 08:49 PM

Mar 2013

Sounds to me like someone pissed off a king or ended up on the wrong side of a war or rebellion. The previous name may have been a title used only by grant of the king. Once revoked, the family had no choice but to fall back on the family name.

Then again, there were a lot of families who had no family name, no surname, until the 1400's or 1500's. It maybe that the family still retained their ancestral title, but officially took a surname and used it for legal records. In England, titles and the names that went with them only passed on to the oldest son. The remainder of the family used the surname.

A gander at Debretts (sp?) might help you figure out what happened.

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

13 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

question: why would a surname totally change in the middle of a long line? [View all] grasswire Feb 2013 OP

I don't know all reaons, but slavery and immigration are two. nt ZombieHorde Feb 2013 #1

From what I know Hayabusa Feb 2013 #2

Hapsburg to Windsor. TheMadMonk Feb 2013 #3

yes, this all is interesting grasswire Feb 2013 #4

Ah, the other direction socioeconomically. TheMadMonk Feb 2013 #5

Look into historical tension of the era in which the name changes. sybylla Mar 2013 #12

Weird, isn't it... pipi_k Feb 2013 #6

Not sure but I heard a great story from a friend. Her ancestor was coming in from Ireland and had jwirr Feb 2013 #7

For one thing, spelling means nothing HeiressofBickworth Feb 2013 #8

Something like that happened pipi_k Feb 2013 #9

The adoption of the surname of a relative to get an inheritance, possibly Spider Jerusalem Feb 2013 #10

My first thought is that SheilaT Feb 2013 #11

It doesn't seem like the 1400's was a very nice century to be alive. PADemD Jul 2013 #13