# Please help me decipher the names of my ancestors on an old document

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-decipher-the-names-of-my-ancestors-on-an-old-document/962978>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 18, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-decipher-the-names-of-my-ancestors-on-an-old-document/962978 "2022-04-18T01:23:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-decipher-the-names-of-my-ancestors-on-an-old-document/962978/21 "2022-04-20T05:09:03Z")

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> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> I had a great great uncle who came into the country from Prussia as Mr. PIECK (PEEK). They got his name wrong and the family name became PICK.

Accents, alphabets, and lazy/harried/overworked clerks with, up until then, minimal exposure to the culture or language of the incoming wave - it’s a wonder they got anything right. (Even Germany I understand had odd alphabetic variations. Not to mention the different European languages with fun accent marks.)

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