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Name Changes


Heartshome

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Has anyone else had research problems, due to Roads, Lanes or Buildings having 'Name Changes'. I was three weeks trying to find somewhere, I roughly knew where it was, but all my research hit a dead end. That is until a chance 'Picture' on a web site that had nothing to do with what I was searching for, showed the building, and the writeup on the site happened to include saying the name of what it was previously known as. If it wasn't for that bit of luck, I would probably still be looking.

I also found looking for the name of a Farm which I knew existed on a 'Lane', that the Lane name had been changed to a 'Road' bearing no named resemblance at all.

 

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Yes, it's something that annoys me at times, changing names of roads, pubs and houses some times to something inappropriate and often because the old name is not considered posh enough. It's not a new thing of course, where I live now there are a few houses that have had more than two names over many years and as we don't have road names or door numbers here that can make research even harder.

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Hi boginspro. Yes, i know what you mean. The group of old cottages where i grew up, have had 3 name changes. Another annoying thing is, that during the 1841 - 1901 census, when they were under the 2nd name, the cottage numbers weren't written by each family, so i have no idea who lived in which cottage. It's so frustrating. Also the area they were quoted as being in at different times, changed as well. You really have to 'think outside the box' sometimes, and explore all possible avenues. I have learned to make a note of everything that is of possible interest, which has paid off, when later, i've found something that matches up. Research is hard but interesting work isn't it, and when you do 'find' what you have been looking for, that 'urika' moment is brill.

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12 hours ago, Heartshome said:

Hi boginspro. Yes, i know what you mean. The group of old cottages where i grew up, have had 3 name changes. Another annoying thing is, that during the 1841 - 1901 census, when they were under the 2nd name, the cottage numbers weren't written by each family, so i have no idea who lived in which cottage. It's so frustrating. Also the area they were quoted as being in at different times, changed as well. You really have to 'think outside the box' sometimes, and explore all possible avenues. I have learned to make a note of everything that is of possible interest, which has paid off, when later, i've found something that matches up. Research is hard but interesting work isn't it, and when you do 'find' what you have been looking for, that 'urika' moment is brill.

The house that I live in now, though not Sheffield, had its name changed many years ago, possibly because someone who was not a local could not understand the accent, so wrote it down as they thought they heard it. I wonder if this ever happened in Sheffield , even in my younger days the accent was considered quite strong and hard to understand by southerners. 

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An example of the local accent changing a name is Hole House at Whitley Carr in Ecclesfield - it became Hoyle House.

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This book has a list of name changes and interesting accounts of the various name changing programmes in the late 19th and early 20th century (changing duplicate names, simplifications, etc). There is a copy in the Central Library, not sure if it can still be bought online.

 

 

Street names book.jpg

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