What Is The Correct Spelling of Your Name? Are You Sure?

Church of Cragyn (now Cragie)

In olden times people often spelled names as they sounded. This fact makes the genealogy research game more than a little difficult. What is your last name? Does it sound like it is spelled? If it is Jones couldn’t is sound like jonez? Or if it is Johnson could it sound like Jonsun? Here are some of the many ways my last name has been spelled:

Cragun, Craguner, Cragin, Cragan, Cragum, Cragon, Creggan, Creggon,

Creagan, Kraghen, Kragahen, Kragun, Kragan, Kragon,

Croghan, Craigan, Craigun, Craigon, & Craigen 

In some families one child ended up spelling their name different than their brothers or sisters. These problems make the genealogy - family history game very challenging.

So if I am searching on the internet to see if something comes up on my grandfather Patrick’s son Elisha which way do I spell his name? Do I try every spelling? I guess I do.

What can make it interesting is to discover what gave your family its last name. In our case it could have come from the name of a town where the family once lived known as Creagan, Scotland. Does that mean my family originally lived in Scotland? Perhaps we shall find that to be a fact one day. Or did they live near the Irish mountain of Croghan and get their name that way? Or are we related to the famous portrait painter in Ireland Martin Creghan?

In 1272 there was a Church of Cragyn in Scotland that was given to the monks of Paisley by Thomas de Cragyn. It is thought we assumed his name as we lived on his land. Isn’t his fun?

I’m thinking I like being named the same as the church and will spell my name Cragyn not Cragun. Wait, they have now changed that name to Cragie.

Can you tell how exciting it is to get something figured out by your investigation, that no one else has figured out.

The cool thing is that through modern technology such as blogs or FamilyTree allows you to share what you learn and can prove with all the world.