How to find surname variants

Variants of a surname are different ways in which the same surname can be found written due to various factors such as transcription errors, dialectal differences, orthographic changes over time, linguistic and regional adaptations, among others. We have mentioned this subject in other posts, when we dealt with Americanized Italian Surnames,

These variants can arise for several reasons, among which include:

• Transcription Errors: Throughout history, records were kept by hand, and errors in handwriting by registrars could generate variants of the surname, due to the unfamiliarity of officials (immigration, civil registrars, parish priests, etc.) with foreign languages, causing errors in transcription. Immigrants interacted with various people responsible for recording official information, such as priests, civil registry officials, teachers, policemen, merchants, and tenants, who were usually English speakers.
• Dialectal and Regional Differences: In different regions or dialects, the same surname may have variations in its pronunciation and, therefore, in its spelling. For example: Rizzo, Risso, Rizzi.
• Orthographic Changes: Spelling rules have changed over time, and surnames have been adapted to these new rules. Also the spelling of many surnames was changed, as mentioned above, due to the unfamiliarity of officials with foreign languages.
• Linguistic Adaptations: When emigrating to other countries, many people adapted the spelling of their surname to make it easier to pronounce or write in the language of the new country.
• Family Variants: Within the same family, there may be different spellings of the surname due to differences in the way each branch of the family has recorded or maintained it over the generations.

See also: Why was my ancestor’s name changed during immigration?

Importance in Genealogy

Identifying variants of a surname is crucial in genealogical research and the process of reconstructing Italian citizenship, because it allows researchers to trace records that may be under different versions of the same surname.

How to find variations of a surname?

Forebears is a website, a free search engine that shows the frequency of a surname in different regions of the world, being able to observe the variations of the surname, if it has undergone changes in the countries receiving immigrants. By entering the site the map will show matches, frequency in other countries, and if available, its origin.

Although its database is not complete for the world population, it is large enough to give us an idea of the different ways in which a surname could have been spelled, since the information was taken from databases such as censuses, electoral lists, etc. In this video we show you how to search for variants of a surname in Forebears.