outline of descendants
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hand kinningham mcdonald merold prichard robinson spalding about |
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The Merold Name
Research suggests the name Merold is German in origin. It appears in early international birth records in abundance in Germany and Czechoslovakia. There have also been a few Merolds recorded in Poland in recent years. An English Merold has even been found, a Susanna Merold born in Hertford, England, 1712. For the most part, however, the overwhelming number of births, even today, manifest themselves most heavily in Austria and Germany, with quite a large percentage of the earliest births being found almost exclusively in places like Wuerttemburg as early as the 1600's. As for the evolution of the Merold name, there has been some debate as to its original spelling, at least on this side of the globe. One argument claims 'Merold' is the American spelling of the name, while 'Merolt' is the original. I see problems with this on two fronts. One, the Merolds immigrated to the colonies, but weren't necessarily influenced by English for quite a while; German was almost exclusively spoken by some for generations. Two, the 'Merold' spelling of the name shows up in German and European birth records almost a hundred years before William Penn's arrival in the New World. Another angle, in complete opposition to the 'Merolt' theory, supposes that Merold is not only the original of the name, but as time passed many Merolds changed their names from the original Merold form to more American spellings, namely "Merril," Merill" and "Merrill." (The ending 'd' in the American Merold pronunciation is very soft, and is thought to have been dropped altogether by many branches of the line. This, so the theory goes, would also explain the small number of 'Merold's existing in the US today. As more families assimilated into an English speaking society, they would change the spelling of the name to the more phonetically appropriate 'Merril.') Anecdotally, I've yet to discover a single case where a 'Merold' male gave birth to a son who would call himself 'Merril,' 'Merrill,' etc. If there is ever a bottom to all this speculation, I'll post the agreed-upon definitive answer here. Until then, your guess is as good as any.
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