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Blog posts : "spelling rules and surnames"

Do The Spelling Rules Apply To Names?

I have often caught myself misspelling surnames because of the spelling rules I learned as a child. I was a good speller, always getting "A's" in spelling, but since I've started doing genealogy research, I have found that some of the rules of spelling and pronunciation seem to have been broken.

This one rule: "I" before "E" except after "C" or when used as an "A" as in "neighbour" and "weigh" I have a real problem with. What is the correct pronunciation of "O'Neil", is it an "E" sound or an "A"…

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