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Kane / Keane

  • 19-09-2015 3:08pm
    #1
    -Leelo-
    Registered Users Posts: 240 ✭✭


    Hi folks,

    Have been researching my great grandmothers family and have come across something that is puzzling me. In the 1901 census the families surname is listed as Keane, but in the 1911 census they are now listed as Kane. My great grandmother had always said her surname was Kane, but her baptism record and marriage records also list her surname as Keane.
    Anyone have any sort of reasonable explanation for why this would be?

    Also, Don't know if it is worth mentioning but her father seems to have died sometime between the 1901 census and the 1910 census?


Comments

  • #2
    Alan259
    Registered Users Posts: 90 ✭✭Alan259


    Hi Leelo,

    Back then people weren't as conscious with the spelling of their names as we are now. I actually have a very similar story to you where my great grandfather always spelt his surname as Martyn but in the parish records the name is spelt as Martin. And in the 1901 census his parents names are spelt Martyn, but him and his brother and three sisters are spelt Martin, and this is all on the one census form. Good luck with your research.


  • #3
    KildareFan
    Registered Users Posts: 683 ✭✭✭KildareFan


    nothing unusual about that - my great aunt's husband's surname was spelt Kane, Keane, Kean, Keen on different documents. If you look at parish registers you can see different spellings of the same family name, depending on literacy levels, how common the name was, how good the writer's hearing was etc.

    It just means you have to think laterally when searching for ancestors.


  • #4
    -Leelo-
    Registered Users Posts: 240 ✭✭-Leelo-


    Thanks for the replies!
    I kind of thought that might be all there was to it, but always good to get some opinions. I reckon when her father died and her mother took over filling in the forms and such, that's where the change happened. Theres also a discrepancy in her mothers age between the 2 census but from reading the Stickied Post at the start of this forum I understand that was quite common.


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