What's In A Name ~ Hays or Hayes?
(Contributed by Ed & Jane Colburn)
We all like to believe that our name is something unique- our first gift from our parents, the first thing we ever owned of our own and something to be proud of- and we should. But why do I spell my name "Hayes" and my cousin spells his "Hays"?
Until comparatively recent years, no one had a "Family Name". Everyone was called by their "given" name; John, Peter or whatever. This practice was still common in Scandinavia only 100 years ago. To distinguish between two "John's", one would be referred to as John, Peter's son (Peterson) or John, Harry's son (Harrison) and this helped a little until John had children and they were all called John's sons (Johnson), so the family name changed every generation. To reduce confusion, some people were known by their physical characteristics such as John (the) Short (or Stout) or for the color of their hair- Black. Some were also known by the place they lived; Woods, Rivers, Brooks, Hills, Fields. As some fields were hay fields, the Hays were those living near the hay field. The Scottish clan Hay is quite possibly the origin of the Hays and Hayes families of today.
Most of us today can read and write with no difficulty, however, such was not the case only a couple of generations back. Even to those who were well educated, the doctors, and lawyers, spelling was not important. The same name could be spelled 5 different ways in the writing of a single will!
The name seems to be run fairly consistently as "Hays" until around 1830 when probably someone went to school and the school master told his student "Your name is Hays. It is spelled H-A-Y-E-S!" The 1870 Census Enumerator spelled every Hays/Hayes name in Sumter County "Hayse".
According to our records, the first in Sumter Co. to use the "Hayes" spelling were Steven Calvin "Doc" and his brother Charles Mays and they were the only ones of the 11 children of Jeff to use the "Hayes" spelling. (Could Doc have learned to spell his name in school and tutored his kid brother at home - or perhaps they were in the same class!)
Does anyone know the real story here????
(Contributed by Ed & Jane Colburn)
We all like to believe that our name is something unique- our first gift from our parents, the first thing we ever owned of our own and something to be proud of- and we should. But why do I spell my name "Hayes" and my cousin spells his "Hays"?
Until comparatively recent years, no one had a "Family Name". Everyone was called by their "given" name; John, Peter or whatever. This practice was still common in Scandinavia only 100 years ago. To distinguish between two "John's", one would be referred to as John, Peter's son (Peterson) or John, Harry's son (Harrison) and this helped a little until John had children and they were all called John's sons (Johnson), so the family name changed every generation. To reduce confusion, some people were known by their physical characteristics such as John (the) Short (or Stout) or for the color of their hair- Black. Some were also known by the place they lived; Woods, Rivers, Brooks, Hills, Fields. As some fields were hay fields, the Hays were those living near the hay field. The Scottish clan Hay is quite possibly the origin of the Hays and Hayes families of today.
Most of us today can read and write with no difficulty, however, such was not the case only a couple of generations back. Even to those who were well educated, the doctors, and lawyers, spelling was not important. The same name could be spelled 5 different ways in the writing of a single will!
The name seems to be run fairly consistently as "Hays" until around 1830 when probably someone went to school and the school master told his student "Your name is Hays. It is spelled H-A-Y-E-S!" The 1870 Census Enumerator spelled every Hays/Hayes name in Sumter County "Hayse".
According to our records, the first in Sumter Co. to use the "Hayes" spelling were Steven Calvin "Doc" and his brother Charles Mays and they were the only ones of the 11 children of Jeff to use the "Hayes" spelling. (Could Doc have learned to spell his name in school and tutored his kid brother at home - or perhaps they were in the same class!)
Does anyone know the real story here????