Hello Out There, My last name is Welsh But.. I just found out it 'was' W

Question:Hello errybody.. As I said my last name is Welsh, But.. I Just (!!) found out it 'was' actually Welsch. It's like having the name Bruce Lee and then finding out it was Bruce Leigh (or Somethin' like that) I have several ideas about places it Might have originated from but if any of you 'Welsch' or 'non Welsch' folk out there have any reliable info or ideas as to the origins of it, I would Love to hear it.. I've 'heard tell' it was alsatian (as in alsace lorraine) and was (even 'more originally') Von Dem Welsch. This is Entirely too elaborate for this type of forum but I'm not sure where else? I could/would possibly ask it.. Any genealogy gurus out dere? Thanks For Readin', E.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Hello errybody.. As I said my last name is Welsh, But.. I Just (!!) found out it 'was' actually Welsch. It's like having the name Bruce Lee and then finding out it was Bruce Leigh (or Somethin' like that) I have several ideas about places it Might have originated from but if any of you 'Welsch' or 'non Welsch' folk out there have any reliable info or ideas as to the origins of it, I would Love to hear it.. I've 'heard tell' it was alsatian (as in alsace lorraine) and was (even 'more originally') Von Dem Welsch. This is Entirely too elaborate for this type of forum but I'm not sure where else? I could/would possibly ask it.. Any genealogy gurus out dere? Thanks For Readin', E.

Don't take hearsay too literally in families. Were most of it true, we'd all be descended from Polish princes and American Indian princesses.

If the name was originally WELSCH, then it means your ancestor was known as "the foreigner" when he adopted this as a surname. In Western and Central Europe, surnames were adopted gradually, with no rules attached to them Alsace and Lorraine were duchies, as were all their neighbors like Brabant. Moving from one to another for several centuries was very easy. When you were the new guy in the village, you could easily have been called Ben the Foreigner, distinguishing you from Ben the Butcher, Ben the Blacksmith and Ben the Wine gardener.

All of the Low Countries spoke a similar dialect of Low German, but each had nuances. It's much like the dialects of English spoken around the world. A bonnet in Louisiana means a babies cap. In New England, it may mean a woman's cap. In England, it means the hood of your car

The only way you will know the truth about your family heritage is to dig in and start researching it. But the caveat to it is that you have to put aside every bit of family folklore you're heard and concentrate on the facts. Follow the paper trail and don't get steered into a pre-conceived path...it could be completely wrong.

finland???

it was not until the late 19thcentury that names had consistant spellings, if you were to trace your family history you would find both spellings and probably some others as well.

There is nothing elaborate at all about your question. Where a name originates is one of the most common questions we have here, as well as (in my opinion), the most misunderstood.
Spelling variations are completely normal. Today, our thinking is geared to standardized, and "correct", as well as most persons being literate.
In some cases, you might find the actual origin of a name.. but just as often, such a thing does not really exist. Names can come from more than one place.
The ONLY reliable way to find origins is to focus on the ancestor themselves, not the spelling of any name. This relies on using documentation. "Heard tell" is a dead giveaway that oral history is being relied on, which (1) is easily distorted and (2) may be completely wrong.
Taking a look at www.rootsweb.com, there are almost 5000 entries for the spelling Welsch. Some in PA in the 1700s. Some from Yugoslavia, some with "Johannes" which can be German, but might be somewhere else. Alsace Lorraine may be accurate.. this area has flipped between German/French jurisdiction many times.
YOUR ancestor (and specifics) might be in one of those files. Your goal would be tracing back from yourself, to determine exactly who your ancestors are/were. If you think about it.. your ancestor very likely had several records that will show the alternate spellings.. but refer to the same person.
If we can entice you.. one location mentioned www.rootsweb.com has a guide to beginning research on the front page.

I have a book on German surnames called 'Deutsche Namenkunde' which I have found quite helpful (I have several German lines in my ancestry). I looked up Welsch and it is a variant of Walch - which can mean 'foreigner' or someone more specifically from Wales (or, they say in the book, Italy - though not sure why, though Italy is closer to Germany than Wales!), or else is a variant of the Polish 'Vlach' .

When I saw your question I thought: German surname, pretty sure about that! You may also want to research your family a bit (census, Ellis Island database on line) and talk to older relatives for clues about your family's origin.