The Newfoundland surnames listed on this site are extracted from the transcribed ship manifests of Ellis Island. The spellings are based on what the volunteers who transcribed the manifests "believed" to be written in the original documents. Keeping this in mind, it is likely that there are a number of spelling errors made by one of the individuals who created either the transcribed copy, or the original record. For this reason, it would be wise to peruse other entries, particularly those within the same letter of the alphabet. As with any handwritten document, there are a number of letters of the alphabet that may be easily confused due to the writing style and penmanship of the writer, and eventual fading of the ink as the document ages. I noticed quite a few errors as I compiled the lists; for example, a surname transcribed as Cuterbridge is likely to be Outerbridge and a surname transcribed as Catherall is probably Gatherall. Unfortunately, these types of errors will be very hard to find, unless you peruse all of the lists.
Some of the spelling errors, especially of surnames that stay within the same letter of the alphabet, can usually be detected by close examination of all entries under a particular letter. There are, however, a number of entries which seem to bear little resemblance to the spelling of the actual surname. These are the errors introduced by many different factors related to the quality of the original documents, and the ability of transcribers to decipher them accurately. Check for the identification of some of these errors via the link entitled Probable Transcription Errors or Variations located below the alphabetical links at the top of this page.
You should remember as well that certain surnames may have been originally recorded under a different letter of the alphabet. For example, the spelling of Newfoundland Irish surnames, such as O' Brien and O' Toole, may have been Brien and Toole respectively, back in the early twentieth century. Newfoundland English dialects may also have played a part in how some surnames were spelled in the original manifests. For example, in one record, I noted the Newfoundland surname Oake was recorded as Hoke. This spelling was likely recorded based on the way the surname was pronounced by the individual. For those who wish to dig a little deeper into Newfoundland family names, I would recommend that they consult Dr. E. R. Seary's book Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland. First published in 1977, this book, which is regarded by most researchers as the "genealogical bible" of Newfoundland, provides information on nearly three thousand family names.
Please note that entries were searched using single or combined letters of the alphabet. The following index was compiled based on the capability of the search engine to retrieve, and group together, various quantities of entries. Remember that the surnames in the pages of the retrieved records are not displayed in "true" alphabetical order. Be sure to look through all pages of an index section when looking for a surname.
This page was last updated: Monday, February 09, 2004 at 05:45:48 AM, MST