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Archiver > ACADIAN-CAJUN > 2003-11 > 1068317962


From: H George Friedman <>
Subject: [ACADIAN-CAJUN] Re: Name VARIATIONS
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2003 12:59:22 -0600 (CST)


I think too much is made sometimes about variations in spelling of names.
The fact is that up until relatively recently (say, the last 100 years or
so), any spelling that conveyed the desired pronunciation was just as valid
as any other. Witness the fact that in some documents, the same person's
name is sometime found in more than one spelling! Obviously, the person
writing the document did not care. Add in the fact that many of the people
we are researching were illiterate, and knew nothing at all about spelling.

I think the fact that we find prevalent spellings ending in -ot in Acadia,
and the same names often changed to -eau or -eaux in Louisiana, reflects
nothing more than a change in fashion in what clerks in one area or another
took to be "usual" spellings of a particular sound. The clerks themselves
would probably have said that since the pronunciations are the same, it made
no diffrence.

I don't think a search for the transition would be likely to yield much, as
no transition as such ever happened.

George Friedman

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