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Surname Changes

Surname Changes

Posted: 9 Feb 2015 11:02PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 10 Feb 2015 1:44PM GMT
Surnames: Halle, Hall
How common was it for someone for what ever reason to change their last name?

My 4x Great grandfather had the last name of Halle but his father had the surname Hall.
His father also had 10 kids, which only 2 of them had the surname Halle all the rest stuck with Hall.

Is there something i could search to confirm why or was it a thing they could freely do back then?

Re: Surname Changes

Posted: 9 Feb 2015 11:28PM GMT
Classification: Query
Were they all literate? If they were not then the writing down of their name would have been down to someone else.

I have the surname Cousens, Cousins, Cozens, Couzens etc etc in my family, and it wasn't until the 20th century that individuals settled on a particular spelling.

Re: Surname Changes

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 3:57AM GMT
Classification: Query
Ah ok well i just got confused as i have a military record for Roland Hall which fully states his last name as Hall but then his son in the census appears with Hallé.

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