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Dear all,
I am new to the group and hoping that someone can shed some light on a huge problem I always encounter while researching.
My moms name is Ejzler but while researching I came across her birth certificate and there it said her name was Eizol. My grandfathers name was spelled Ejzler and his fathers name was spelled as Eisel. According to my living relatives the name started out as being Eisler but on the birth certificate of my grandfather I have the original signature of my great grandfather and he writes his name as Eisel. On his own birth certificate his name is stated as Eisler. My big question...which one is it???? Am I to assume that my great grandfather perfectly well knew his own name or would that be simple thinking on my part?
This causes a lot of problems in finding documents and completing the picture of my family history. So if anyone can enlighten me on the subject it would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
P.S. All records I mention are from civil registration.
Posted : 15/09/2013 12:08 am
If the civil records these spellings appear in are form after emigrating I would disregard them all as unconfirmed. 
You need to track down original documents - the real core spelling of a surname is the spelling in the place of origin in the mother tongue in the earliest available documents - often other spelling were the consequence of a foreign language being the language the records were kept in.
Besides that original spelling, if the family still has descendants living in the same area, you need to figure out which modern surname spelling is used as equivalent - languages underwent language reforms which sometimes had impact on the way surnames were written down.
Posted : 13/11/2013 11:41 am