Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
Hello Joyce
That's a good question, and the answer is "it depends on where and when".
First of all, I must point out that, even among the Chandlers, there is not one family. I estimate that there are some 150 genetically distinct Chandler lines, comprised of thousands of individual Chandler families, now scattered around the world. This is because Chandler is an occupational name - e.g. John the candle-maker in Sussex would probably have been called John Chandler and William the candle-maker in Gloucestershire would probably have been called William Chandler, but they would not be related and their genetic "signature" would have been quite different. (Of course, virtually everyone with any "English" surname is almost certainly related to everyone else with any other "English" surname - we are all probably no more than 15th cousin to each other at some level of remove.)
If you are talking about the earlier years of people using surnames but not being able to read or write (so unable to check the clerk's spelling), there was a fair amount of interchange between Candler and Chandler (and other spelling variations). One of the factors which influenced the way the clerks wrote it was the area concerned - in many parts of southern England, where the Norman (French) influence was strong, the spelling would begin Ch but pronounced more like Shawndeleur. In other parts, where the Anglo-Saxon influence remained strong, the harder-sounding Candler pronunciation and therefore spelling was likely.
If you let me know where and when, and the specific names you are dealing with, I will try to give you a more specific answer. If you wish, you can e-mail me direct at dchandler@sunwave.net
Best wishes
Dick Chandler in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada
conducting the Chandler One-Name Study (see http://www.one-name.org/profiles/chandler.html)
Notify Administrator about this message?
Followups:No followups yet |
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/chandler/messages/7211.html | ||
 |
Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|