Examples of bizarre family name changes (trying to hide?)

[James18]

A few months ago I was trying to find census records for a May Alice Ellen Mann (1896 - 1969) and - frustrated at not being able to find anything - gave up. Having gone back to it recently, I managed to find her in both 1901 and 1911; proof that sometimes taking a break from research for a while can help.

1901
1911

1901 is perhaps a fairly understandable case of Mann being mistranscribed as Maine, but I was able to work out it was the same family by comparing with other information I had on May. Of course, many of you will have been in the same boat here, and no doubt quite often.

1911 is more interesting... why are the family called Wilson? I can find no other reference to this, and the father has signed the census paper, so it was surely intentional. I was able to confirm it as the same family by comparing with the 1901 census, and checking BMD records for the children born between 1901 and 1911 -- they're all registered as Mann, despite being given as Wilson on the 1911 census. Charles was born in Clacton and lived in Dartford with a wife and children of the same names and dates, so it must be them.

But why Wilson? There's little wonder I couldn't find anything for the correct Mann family originally, and I just wondered whether anyone else had come across examples of an entire family having (apparently inexplicably) changed their surname on a census. They still live in Dartford, so assuming they're trying to avoid someone they haven't moved very far in order to do so.

Thankfully I've been lucky in that, so far, I only have two or three examples of not being able to find people on a particular census year, and I'm pretty sure one of those is because it would have been from a destroyed batch. However, this kind of thing does make me think I may be missing someone because they have the wrong name.

[Merry]

I just wondered whether anyone else had come across examples of an entire family having (apparently inexplicably) changed their surname on a census.

I have a few times, but not on my tree, so I don't remember now who most of them were.

I think it was Nell who had an Irish family who changed their name to something not Irish (Carter?) and we only realised because someone was listed as blind on the census and that followed through on later ones. I don't think it was inexplicable though; there was certainly prejudice against the Irish at times.

I'm not wondering how long ago that was? Probably ten years??

[Olde Crone]

I have Garlicks who changed their name to Whittaker to distance themselves from their bankruptcy. This was desperately confusing for me because there was a parallel family called Whittaker and it took me ages to work out who was who and why!

I also have another family apparently masquerading under the wife,s maiden name but I am positive this was the enumerator's error. The wife,s family had lived on the same farm for hu dreds of years and I think the enumerator just wrote down the surname he associated with the property.

OC

[kiterunner]

I have mentioned this before - Owen Ferrier Besant Bristow, aka Fred / Frederick, who lived in London for most of his life, appears on the 1911 census in Brighton as Arthur Race (he apparently filled it in himself), and is also listed there under that name in street directories and e rolls for 1912 and 1913, then by 1922 he is back in London as Frederick Bristow. I don't know what the reason was for the temporary name change, but when his mother, who was living with his family in Brighton, died, Owen's elder brother, who still lived in London, registered the death, presumably so Owen wouldn't have to give his name.

Then of course there is the couple on the first thread you ever posted on here (I think), James, Thomas French and Mary Checkley who ran off together and changed their name to Smith!

[James18]

Originally Posted by kiterunner

Then of course there is the couple on the first thread you ever posted on here (I think), James, Thomas French and Mary Checkley who ran off together and changed their name to Smith!

I totally forgot about them in this instance, Kate. I don't think I'd ever have discovered that little mystery on my own, though. It makes sense in terms of it being two people eloping, and especially given that one was already married.

With the Manns, though, it seems to be the entire family. Perhaps it was something like bankruptcy. I hadn't considered it before, so was it something that sometimes led people to create new identities as a result? I suppose it's not that surprising.

[Macbev]

I had a lot of trouble tracing my cousin's family for her. In all the BMD records, they were registered as 'Lymon', but on the census records, AFTER Charlotte Lymon married the father of her illegitimate child, the family was recorded as Simpson.

Happily, I was able to verify the two surnames referred to the same family after finding an identical address (and identical fairly unusual given names) on the marriage of Charlotte's grandson, that took place shortly after the 1901 census.

I can only suppose they felt obliged to stick by the 'legal' surname for BMD events, but used the more socially acceptable alternative one for census taking. My only problem since has been to get said cousin to accept illegitimacy in her ancestor

[Olde Crone]

I suppose also that Mann might have been considered a German or Jewish surname and that might have been the reason for change. Did they keep the name forward?

As bankruptcy was such a social disgrace, let alone a serious crime, I expect quite a few dd change their names, although some of them may just have been trying to escape their creditors!

OC

[ElizabethHerts]

The only instance of name change in my tree was my 2x-great-grandfather changing from or alternating between Bond and Pond. It transpires that he was born Pond but his father was transported to Australia and he was also in trouble with the law as a youngster, so I believe he was attempting to shake off his past.

If there is a name change it is certainly worth doing some digging to see if you can unearth anything. It wasn't until the criminal records went online that I was able to discover what had happened.

[Nell]

Originally Posted by Merry

I have a few times, but not on my tree, so I don't remember now who most of them were.

I think it was Nell who had an Irish family who changed their name to something not Irish (Carter?) and we only realised because someone was listed as blind on the census and that followed through on later ones. I don't think it was inexplicable though; there was certainly prejudice against the Irish at times.

I'm not wondering how long ago that was? Probably ten years??

It was a while ago, Merry! My ex's great-grandfather, Charles Albert Carter, was unable to obtain a birth cert to verify his entitlement to a pension. Ex's cousin had tried and failed to find a birth cert. I was looking for the family on the census to get the right registration district (typically Charles had got more than one place of birth on later censuses). It was the blind brother who clinched the right family - McCarthy! I know they changed the name for the 1871 census, Charles being born 1866.

The only reason I can think of is that there was a "Fenian outrage" ie a terrorist attack in 1868 which caused a lot of anti-Irish feeling. Charles' parents were on census with their blind son living next door, blind son still calling himself McCarthy, & the parents then reverted back as their deaths were registered as McCarthy. Charles must have forgotten all that as he lived and died as Carter!

Much more common and just as frustrating, is the possibility of misspelt or mistranscribed names, my favourite being Stephens mistranscribed as Howard!

[James18]

Originally Posted by Olde Crone

I suppose also that Mann might have been considered a German or Jewish surname and that might have been the reason for change. Did they keep the name forward?

This would seem to be the father, OC:

Name: Charles N Mann
Birth Date: abt 1878
Date of Registration: Mar 1920
Age at Death: 42
Registration district: Dartford
Inferred County: Kent
Volume: 2a
Page: 786

Their births were all registered as Mann, so I assume their deaths were too. I haven't checked the others, as I had been primarily tracing May (she's the only one to appear on one of my trees).

Her marriage entry is here, so her dad will have died not long before she got married. She died as a Montgomery.