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ArgyllGran

Re: the Mudd/Rudd name change.

None of my contacts have seen any actual parish record of the change nor the (appropriate) family member whose marriage record shows the change in fact. One (of my contacts) suggested it didn't appear to faze the vicar at the time and so it persisted...!

Thank you. Jenny P



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Bear in mind that most people were illiterate at that time, and wouldn't know how their name was supposed to be spelled, or be able to spot if not written correctly.

Also there was no standard spelling of names - it could depend on what the clerk thought the name sounded like, and that would be affected by accent, etc.

Or one of the names in the transcription could simply be what the transcriber thought the (possibly hard to read) handwriting in the original looked like.

If the family did make a conscious decision to change their name (perhaps their name was mud, so to speak), it wouldn't need any official permission. They would just tell people that they were now Rudd.

ArgyllGran

Well there you go... you've made my day! Obviously (at 84) I've still got a lot to learn!!

Many thanks

JennyP