Member-only story
Genealogy
The Story Behind Last Names
Why the spelling of some last names have changed over time
I’ve gotten sucked into a sort of black hole of time researching a little bit of my family ancestry. That always seems to happen. I’ll go with the intention of looking up some quick information and end up spending an hour or more as I discover fact after fact.
One interesting thing I’ve noticed, and I’m sure you most likely have noticed too if you’ve ever researched your family history, is that our last names might not have necessarily been spelled the same way generations ago as they are now.
Here is a personal example:
Part of my family’s surname (my mother’s last name and her side of the family) is Orner. As I went back ancestor after ancestor past my grandfather and great great grandfather, I noticed that the spelling of Orner eventually changed to Arner.
Interesting Fact I discovered: “Orner” is a Swiss-German variant of “Arner”
Arner means “reaper day laborer”.
Could the change have been all because of a simple spelling mistake? Possibly. However, there are various reasons why the last name would have changed in spelling variation:
