Searching on scotlandspeople

Spelling of names can be very variable. Because your surname is e.g. McMeekin doesn't mean your relations spelt their name the same way. You could be related to McMeeking or McMeikan and more.  So when searching you need to try and include all possible variations.

There are several options on scotlandspeople, name variants, soundex

I personally use wildcards using an asterisk to represent any number of letters or no letters.

When searching for Muncie, I know they are often recorded as Munsie so a search on
MUN*IE will return both.

Ballantine can be spelt lots of ways
BAL*NT* will return Balantine, Ballantine, Balantyne, Ballantyne.
Ballantine may sometimes turn up as Bannatine so try that too. But searching on BA*NT* may bring you too many returns.

Note that it is often the vowels that change, so replacing them with an asterisk is a good strategy.

Just be glad you are not searching for McMeekin as I have had mcmeckan, mcmeikan, mcmickan, mcmiekin, mcmekine, mcmeeking, mcmekien, mcmeicken, mcmecken, mcmeken, mcmekin…

Spelling variations

Especially pre 1900, you will find huge variations in spelling of unusual names. If you are looking for Wilson or Smith you should be ok. But McKay could be Mackie or McKie. I will tell you how to search for variations in a later post.

The Education Act of 1872 legislated for compulsory schooling and many public schools were built as a result. The effects of education on the general population are filtering through by the 1890s.

Prior to this ordinary folk were largely illiterate.  You can tell, if they signed their certificate with an X mark. 

So the registrar just wrote down what he heard. Fine if the person was called Brown or Smith. If the person was not local and had an unfamiliar accent you get some strange renditions. Nowadays with television we are familiar with all sorts of accents.

It is often the vowels that change e.g. Breckenridge or Brackenridge, Drennan or Drinnan.

Try saying the name aloud.

Mckune could be McEwan


I've been looking at some Irish folk who came from Derry to Ayrshire and are variously record as Mawhinney, McWhinnie and Mahoney.