I have a marriage certificate from Buckna Presbyterian Church dated April 21, 1853 for James Gibson and Sarah Omelvena. I know that James Gibson had a daughter Matilda who was the mother of my grandfather, Joseph Boyle.
My mother's middle name was McElvenna which I was always told was an ancestor's surname. Is there any information somewhere that might trace the change of name or is it possible this was just a memory lapse in the family which somehow changed the name from Omelvena to McElvenna?
Friday 3rd Jan 2014, 01:53AM
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The prefixes O? & Mc in Irish names are detachable, and sometimes alternate according to whim. Sometimes they are dispensed with altogether, so in this case Melvena/Mulvena would also be variants of that name to be found in that area. O & Mc just indicate that the person was of the Melvena "tribe" and are therefore just a supplementary part of the name.
The variations are completely normal, and very common in Ireland. In the 1800s, no-one cared exactly how their name was spelled, and any change is usually as a result of a different person recording the information, with their own ideas on how to spell it, rather than a deliberate decision to change the spelling or because of a mistake.
Other examples, in that general geographic area, of names that vary like that within the same family are McDonnell/O?Donnell, Kilpatrick/Kirkpatrick, Robertson/ Robinson, Barkley/Barclay. All are variant spellings of the same name, and can switch about from document to document, for the same person or family.
There?s at least 1 Omelvena family in Broughshane to this day.
Ahoghill Antrim
Friday 3rd Jan 2014, 09:17AM -
Thank you for your comment. I was thinking it might be some issue like that. The search continues for the ancestral link.
Fred
Friday 3rd Jan 2014, 12:28PM