52 Ancestors - Week 9 - Changing Names

52 Ancestors - WEEK 9 - Changing Names

By Cynthia K. Patton

Why would someone change their surname and then every generation for two hundred years here in the United States continue to us it? That question may never be answered but the story behind the story goes like this.

My mother was a Mahanna. Dolores Jean Mahanna[1] born in 1933 to Donald O. Mahanna and Margaret Emma Robson in Washington, Pennsylvania. Her lineage descends from a man named John Mahon/McMahon/Mahana who arrived from County Clare, Ireland sometime before 1750.

Either his son (or grandson) was John Mahanna, born 1778 in Kent, Delaware.

Later over in Washington, Pennsylvania a James Behanna is recorded on the 1790 census[2]. He and many generations of his family remain there. Fast forward to 2009 and I am contacted by a man who is researching the Behanna clan. He is extremely excited because my male cousin who is a Mahanna showed up as a Y-DNA match for four of his Behanna test subjects.

Together we were able to decipher when the name change occurred, but never could arrive at “why” the name change occurred. This does stand as an example that our relatives names are maybe the least important identifier when we are conducting research. And that DNA doesn't lie.

 

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[1] Alabama Department of Public Health, death certificate no. 48252 (2016). Dolores J. Keefer, Center for Health Statistics, Montgomery.

[2] 1790 US census, Washington County, Pennsylvania, page 197 (penned), column 1, line 70, James Behamm; imaged, “1790 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5058/: accessed 28 February 2024.