Bassant surname

[judem]

it appears some of my ancestors were called Bassant, but then for no apparent reason seem to have called themselves Bassett! i wonder if anyone has any ideas how or why and if not how i could find out? on 1881 census and prior to this as Bassant, then on the 1891 census as Bassett. curious.

 

[taalia81]

Sometimes it's impossible to find out why a surname changed. Surnames changed in many ways for many reasons, it could be that the family wanted to distance themselves from someone or something. It could also be that they moved to a different area and that their accent lead to registrars etc writing the name as they heard it and perhaps if the family couldn't read or write, they wouldn't know any better!

Sometimes, like in my family it can be due to illegitimacy, a child born to parents who marry later will likely be registered with the mother's name but will be known by the father's name.

Sorry to not be able to help much, but our ancestors certainly didn't make it easy for us!!

 

[admin]

Another reason why spellings changed
- was that on the census collection night, the enumerator went round to each persons house and if that person could not write, he asked for each persons name - the enumerator then wrote what he thought the spelling was.
So there may be many variants - depending on the enumerator

Does not make it easy for us FHUK addicts!

all the best,
Dave

 

[duckweed]

I'm researching Bullivant surname. So far I have 25 different spellings of the name including one census that has them down as Budden. As far as I can tell the family was pretty literate, mainly tradespeople and teachers. Often as well as misspelling the name the enumerator often put down the wrong county. Lincolnshire became Lancashire. Wives and husbands often given the same birthplace. Lets face it not all enumerators were careful what they wrote.

 

[sue oosterhuis]

My maiden name is Bassant. My father was John Bassant son of Sidney Ernest Bassant. I believe we have relatives in Kent. My grandfather moved to Canada I believe in the early 1900's. His name was Sidney Ernest Bassant. Which region or town was your family from? I live in Ontario Canada