What is the correct spelling of my familys name?
It is often very difficult to determine the original spelling of a surname or first name, for a number of reasons. If one is researching Russian records, oftentimes the German surname of an individual was recorded by a Russian official in the Cyrillic alphabet. The dialect spoken by the Germans in Russia also provides for variations of spellings in both German and Russian. When taking the English transliteration of these German or Russian spellings, more changes commonly occur and, of course, when individuals came to the United States names were written as understood by the immigration official. In researching ancestors’ first names, it is also helpful to consider the second name as well as nicknames and alternate spellings, as many families gave the same first name to more than one son or daughter.
