Genealogy is a popular activity both online and off. The Internet has made it easier for people to trace and fill out their family tree, but some things still have to be done offline. When searching out long lost family members from long ago, you may find yourself doing a lot of family surnames searches. This is how you find possibilities to research further. There are some differences in surnames that may surprise you, and what you don't know may make the difference between finding your great-great grandfather from England or wondering if your family appeared out of thin air because you hit a wall.
Family surnames often go back through the history of your family through your father's side of the family. They will change through the female side. Some names are more common and much harder to research. If you come from a line of Smiths, you have to be extra sure that you have the right person as you go back each generation. Dates and times are extra important. However, if your family surnames are Smithe or Smeeth, you won't have such a hard time as these are far less common than the name Smith. Still, this can be tricky. Smith comes from many nationalities while others were strictly from one area of the world. Keep geography in mind as well.
Some family surnames have undergone changes for various reasons. This is what you may not know and what can trip you up. One reason why family names changed was because of immigration. Names are tricky when spoken in a foreign language. Some working in immigration may not have bothered to get the right spelling for family surnames, instead spelling it like they heard it. Lootze could easily turn into Lutz or Loots. This also happened when the census takers came to the homes of recent immigrants. They just wrote down what they heard rather than asked for the right spelling on complicated or foreign names.
Because of this problem with family surnames, most immigrants would take on the new spelling rather than dealing with the hassle of trying to get the right spelling of their name on documents. They were just glad to be accepted into the country. Some did not mind the new Americanized versions of their family surnames because they did not stand out so much in the crowd as being new to the country. Some families even decided to change to a more American spelling or phonetic spelling on purpose. These things are what you must remember when searching family surnames.
If you are having a hard time with some of your family surnames in your genealogy quest, think about phonetic and alternate spellings that may have been used. Search the name and see if other versions come up in your search. Some genealogy web sites offer a search that will bring up variations of the family surnames you are searching. This is very helpful and can often bring up results when nothing else works. Not all names change, but many did in the process of moving and immigration.