Why do the white robicheaux's spell there last name Robichaux.?

Question

MY FAMILY IS OF FRENCH/CHOCTAW/AFRICAN/DOMINICAN HERITAGE. Doesnt that make us creole.

Answer 1

not necessarily creole. creole came from the southeast louisiana region. where is your family from?

differences in spelling of names is common. it doesnt mean white black or anything in between. its just how language has evolved over hundreds and sometimes thousands of years.

be careful. if you keep thinking in terms of black vs white then maybe one day you will be labeled - - racist.

Answer 2

Good question, and I gave you a star!

One post here says to be careful thinking "white vs. black" or you will be labeled a racist. I have to address this first. Your question isn't "white vs. black" and racism isn't about noticing differences between people of different skin colors. Since when did noticing and asking about differences become synonymous with some people with racism? Let's be clear that racism and prejudice are not about just noticing color, but about intense, irrational, and unfounded dislike and/or belief in the superiority/inferiority of one over another. I don't see anything like that in your question, and actually, you have to notice this and ask when doing genealogical research.

OK. So, great question, and I have run across different spellings myself in my family names. I have family from across the South including New Orleans and Alabama, with most being Irish immigrants but also with a line in my mother's lineage that is listed as "colored" on their birth/death certificates. (So I also ask race questions in my own research, and I'm not racist.) It's interesting how documents back in the 1800s and early 1900s were so inconsisent in spelling of names!

Sometimes the spelling differences I've found are the result of census takers who went door to door hand writing information and spelled a family's name on the census form "wrong". The family might start getting mail from the government with the "wrong" spelling and start using that spelling for consistency. Or, it could have been changed to eliminate that extra "e" to simplify the spelling. Or perhaps there was a family feud that caused one branch to change their spelling to differentiate. It's so hard to know, but if you find out, write it down for future generations.