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7-9-2010:
Research a family for
a short period and you’ll come across multiple spellings for a family’s
surname. A lot may be the document
creator’s typo, but is there more to it?
There may be. Let us take the
Ziliak family who settled in Indiana in the
mid-1800s. The census records had
shown they were from the Alsace area in France.
Lorentz Ziliak and Family circ. 1868
Here is a snippet from some census records:
1850 US Federal Census
1880 US Federal Census
Noted here are the variant
spellings, not only of the given name but the surname
1850: Lauren Zeliack
1880: Lorenz Ziliak
The latter of the two spellings of
the surname is what is carried on by current descendants, but what about
the earlier spelling? They do sound
alike, so not much of a difference, correct?
The origins of surnames, at least in
Europe only began roughly one thousand years ago. Even so, there has
been considerable changes and manipulations over time. Some of the reason for
the changes are due to political or economic reasons, while others
were directed by social influence.
The Ziliak family was traced back to the
France and German border town of Nehwiller-pres-Woerth
in the district of Wissembourg, Bas-Rhin.
Nehwiller, 1803
It was found that the spelling of
the surname in the late 1600s through 1800s in the area were: Ziliox(e)
or Zilliox(e).
It still has yet to be determined if another name variant preceded
this one, however it is cases like this one which make you realize how many
different ways even a seemingly unique surname may turn up.
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