In the last post, 'New Generation Chart', you may have noticed some interesting things about the names of our ancestors. You may have noted that we had 3 Peters in a row or 4 Johns in a row. But what probably stood out as most interesting is the fact that many of our ancestors used an alternate spelling of our last name. They used the name Wittum. Wittum is either an Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic spelling variation of the name Witham.
There were many reasons why names changed or evolved over time. Sometimes these variations were unintentional and sometimes they were intentional. Sometimes immigrants wanted to Americanize their names when they came here. Other times, they wanted to escape from their past life and make a fresh start with a fresh name. Sometimes there were family disputes that caused a split in the family that resulted in a slight name change variation. Still other times, it was just a simple case of immigrants telling inspectors their names and the immigration authorities would write it down the way it sounded or come up with their own spellings. And remember, many immigrants couldn't write or spell their own name.
Exactly why our ancestors used the variation Wittum is still unknown to us at this point, but our ancestors weren't the only Withams to vary the spelling of our last name.
Other spelling variations used by other Withams may include:
Witham, Withem, Wittam, Witam, Withum, Wittum, Whittam, Whitham, Whittum, Whittem, Wytham, Wyttam, Wyttum, Wythum, Withams, Wittams, Whiton, Whitten, Whittin, Whittom, Whitton, Whittone, Widden, Wihtum, Witam, Witten
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