Anyone who has reseached one particular surname for a while, has a list of mistakes, changes and evolutions of the surname. My list of options for the surname Henritze includes:
- Heindrix
- Heinritz
- Heinritze
- Henderson
- Hendrickson
- Hendrix
- Heneritze
- Heneritzy
- Henitzy
- Henneritzi
- Henretzer
- Henrici
- Henrick
- Henricy
- Henrite
- Henritsey
- Henritz
- HENRITZE
- Henritze
- Henritzey
- Henritzi
- Henritzie
- Henritzy
- Henrizy
- Henrtzy
- Henryritze
- Heredtze
- Ritz
- Ritze
- Ritzy
Mistakes, Changes and Evolvutions
From a research standpoint, it is important to notice not all the surnames begin with the same letter, end in the same letter, have the same first three letters, nor the same soundex code H563. This impacts search patterns.
From Family Search result in Ohio Deaths 1908-1953 for Barbara E. Duff, daughter of Adeline R. Henritze Saylor.
Surnames can be changed by usage or by law, lots of times by marriage, but other reasons too. See the Artricle entitled Surname Changes for more specifics. Surnames can also evolve over time from one name to another, yet again to a third or more. These are not ususally life events but just life. One clerk hears Pierce another knows the name is Pearce. There are translation issues and standardization issues amongs others. See the article Surname Evolution for more specifics.
Sometimes the surname is just flat out wrong. It may have been:
- misheard
- mispronounced
- misspelled
- miswritten
- mistranscribed
- misindexed
- mistranslated
- misread
- mistyped
As basic as the difference is between Gamble and Campbell, is the reason people can be hidden in plain sight. Sometimes the first letter is wrong leaving a poor path to follow. Add to this mix, different regional accents (compare Mississippi to Boston), varying nationalities and multiple alphabets, it’s amazing anyone is ever located for certain. From the Census Bureau, there are lists of frequently occuring surnames in the 1990, 2000 and 2010 census and also an article entitled Surnames of the White Population in 1790. It would be nice to see these surnames identified and counted for each available census.
