What is the correct spelling of this name?

Question

I am doing my family tree and alot of people have the name DeLong also spelled De Long! Which is the correct spelling of this name?

De Long or DeLong?

All these people came from France about 200-300 years ago to America.

Answer 1

The correct spelling is DeLong.

Answer 2

http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?na...

Surname: Delong

This ancient surname can be of pre-7th century Norse-Viking, Old English, French, Norman-French or even Gaelic origins! Recorded in the spellings of Long, Lang, Delon, Delong, Lange, and even Lung, it has at least three possible sources, each with its own meaning and derivation. Firstly, it may be a descriptive nickname for a tall person, deriving from the Olde English pre 7th Century "lang", or the Ancient French "long", and mean long or tall. Secondly, it may be topographical for one who lived at a long place, and can be either English or French. In this case Long or Delong would refer to a strip of agricultural land within an uncultivated forest as shown by the first recording below. Thirdly, it may be of Gaelic (Scottish-Irish) origins, where the modern spelling is usually an anglicization of O'Longain, composed of the elements "O", meaning male descendant of, plus "Longain" a personal name probably derived from "long", tall (as above), or possibly from the homonymous "long", meaning a ship and so possibly a byname for a seafarer, or a Viking, one who sailed in a long-ship. Early recordings include Leofwine Lange, who was noted in the 1070 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and Berard Long, recorded in the Feudal Documents of the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk (1121 - 1148). One of the earliest settlers to New World of the American Colonies, was Henry Long, aged 21 yrs., who embarked from London, England, on the ship "Hopewell", on February 15th, 1634. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Aetheric des Langa, which was dated 972 a.d, in the "Old English Bynames" register for Northamptonshire, during the reign of King Edgar of England, who reigned from 959 - 975.  

Answer 3

I know 2 brothers with the same surname and each one spells it differently.

One is spelled DeLong and the other is spelled De Longe.

If you're using Census records, the person taking the Census, probably, wrote it down as he saw fit.

So many earlier generations could not read or write, so they had no way of knowing their names were being misspelled.

Due to variations in spelling, I list all of them in my research notes/stories/profiles.  

As long as you can document your research with dates and places, the "correct" spelling won't make a lot of difference.

Answer 4

The correct spelling is DeLong

Answer 5

DeLong

Answer 6

Genealogy is about finding the correct relationships. If someone is related, the spelling is not relevant.  In fact, you will often find records about one person, which is spelled several different ways, at different times/ places. It would still be the same PERSON.

In the time frame that you are talking about, persons (especially illiterate) would not know, or be concerned with a "correct" spelling. Focus on what was predominantly used.  

Answer 7

Both. Check for D'Long, with and without a space after the apostrophe too. If you are looking for a woman named Ann, she might be under Ann, Anne, Anna or Hanna.

There are no "correct" spellings in genealogy, despote the opinions of the first five people who answered you.  My favorite document is one concerning a man named Matthews. The lawyer spells it Matthews, Mathews and Mathis, all in the same page.

Count your blessings. I worked with a man whose surname was De La Vega. He and his brothers have encountered "many" variations. He always uses the two-space version, but he has been recorded as

Delvega

Delavega

De Lavega

Dela Vega

Del Vega

De La Vega

La Vega

Lavega

Vega

Many bad computer systems choke if a surname has a space in it, so perfectly good surnames with two words are being bastardized today just because some fool in the IT department thought everyone in the world had a single-word last name, just like he did. I have two middle names; so do my kids. We gave them a second arrow in their quiver if they ever decide they don't like the one they got at first. Most bad computer systems choke on two middle names, too, unless you use an underscore.

Answer 8

Early immigrants spelled their name Delong, De Long and DeLong.

Answer 9

It's the same name. Modern transcribers take out the space so that the names don't get truncated or split up as a middle name and last name. They would have originally spelled it with a small "d" as de Long or the more common de Longhe. Spelling wasn't important for 200 of the last 300 years, so don't be surprised if they weren't consistent.

Answer 10

DeLong

It's like the name DeLeon its all one word.