In the process of genealogical research, one has to face the difficulties associated with changing the family name. Not finding a record in the document for a given last name, we find a record in which everything except the last name matches. Then we conclude (as it almost always happens) that this is exactly the person we need.
The reasons for the change of surnames may be different, we will describe some of them
- Sometimes the descendants of one common ancestor changed surnames according to the name of the head of the family.
- Sometimes the son-in-law, going over to primaki, accepted the surname of his father-in-law. Interestingly, some time after the death of the father-in-law, the son-in-law could return the previous surname to himself.
- Often with a change of place of residence, people also changed their surnames (depending on where or where the person arrived).
- Often illegitimate children were given the surname Pokryvytuk. But she did not gain a foothold, they tried to change her after several generations.
- Change of surname due to a change in profession – father was a barrel maker – surname Bondar, and his son was engaged in forestry – changed his surname to Lesnik.
- Change of a surname according to a defect or feature. A person could have some peculiarity that “clung” to him so that it was inherited already in the form of a surname (Khromov, Kosoy, Lysy, Zaika).
- It happened that after several generations the family returned the previous surname. For example, in the family of Kolomiytsev was Martyn Kolomiyets. His descendants began to call Martina, although the descendants of the Martyn brothers bore the surname Kolomiyets. Two generations later, the descendants of Martyn returned the surname Kolomiyets, but until today they still have the nickname Martina, which distinguishes them from other Kolomiyets. We have not yet conducted a generic research, although the representatives of the Kolomians knew that they were called Martins, did not know the reason for this nickname.
So, earlier surnames could also change and were not as well-established as they are now. Changes could be in accordance with the circumstances of life and other reasons – from the names, occupations, characteristics or shortcomings of a person. It happened that primaki changed their names.
Therefore, it is necessary to change the search strategy if we do not find a specific fact, but with high probability this fact should be contained in the document. In this case, we look through the document again and look for a person by name and patronymic. When all the data matches, except the last name, we conclude that this record is about the person who interests us.
Good luck in finding.
