In an effort to do as Steve has asked us to do in the "Panache" thread I am starting this thread about spelling of surnames in the past.
I spell my last name Payton as did my father and his father also. However in tracing the name back further I have found the name spelled as Peyton, Paton, and Patten.
I have been told that the name originated in the Viking settlements in Normandy and then went to England with William the Conqueror. It appears that it was originally spelled Paton but as we have discussed in the other thread in the days gone by there was no firm spelling of names. Everyone spelled it the way they heard it pronounced. It is no wonder that we have a very hard time tracing our family history.