Quote Originally Posted by CelticSire View Post
When our ancestors came ashore at Ellis Island, Baltimore, or any other point of entry, many of them did not speak, read or write in English. Consequently, when they pronounced their surname in whatever language or accent they spoke, the person who was writting the entry into the register spelled it how it sounded.
This was not only true here, but back in Scotland as well. Consistent spellings of surnames is a very modern thing. The parish clerks were almost illiterate themselves and entered names of baptisms, marriages and deaths very phonetically which is the source for many of the "sept" or family names. Variations of the name Buchanan, for example, often don't resemble the word as we know it at all.