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Help[Opinions] Re: Random question about last names?
in reply to a message by Guest
What other people have said (pretty much the same reasons 1st names have variations; differences in literacy, culture, language, accent, time, taste), but speaking specifically for my surname - it is a habitational name for a place on the French-German border. The spelling of the place is different in French than in German, and that's reflected in the surname variations.
And for English examples like Greene vs Green, I think E endings like that were more common in an older form of English (they used to be pronounced like a schwa, then there was a transition period to silent Es; though this was before standardized spelling anyway). So possibly the Green families that don't use an E modernized the spelling at some point for convenience or they might have taken a surname later to begin with (surnames weren't always a thing) or they might have translated from a surname meaning "green" in a different language or they might have originally had a compound surname and felt like shortening it.
And for English examples like Greene vs Green, I think E endings like that were more common in an older form of English (they used to be pronounced like a schwa, then there was a transition period to silent Es; though this was before standardized spelling anyway). So possibly the Green families that don't use an E modernized the spelling at some point for convenience or they might have taken a surname later to begin with (surnames weren't always a thing) or they might have translated from a surname meaning "green" in a different language or they might have originally had a compound surname and felt like shortening it.
This message was edited 7/21/2024, 4:52 PM
