Joseph O'Hear

O’Hear is a variation O’Hara, which is fairly common in Co. Down. Spelling varied all the time in Ireland and you need to keep an open mind as it frequently changes within families. Some O’Haras from Donaghmore on the Ros Davies site:

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~rosdavies/genealogy/SURNAMES/O/OHareAJ.h…;

Not every RC parish has records for the 1840s and so just because this baptism fits agewise doesn’t mean it is the only possible one. You really need some additional information to try and narrow the search. Joseph O’Hara is a very common name in that county, as you can see.

 

 

Shirley Ann,

Your friend is quite correct in saying that Smith & Smyth is interchangeable in Ireland. Really that goes for many names. The idea of a single or correct spelling for a surname or a place name in Ireland is very much a recent phenomenon designed to meet the needs of modern officialdom. Before that there was no consistency. Names were spelled phonetically and each variation was down to the whim of the particular person recording the information. You will often see the spelling change as the records go back. This rarely indicates a deliberate decision to alter the name, nor even a mistake. Not everyone was literate, but even when they were, exact and consistent spelling simply wasn’t something they bothered about. In addition to varying the actual spelling, O’ or Mac prefixes were optional and were often omitted. 

In 1899, the Rev Smith reviewed the early records of Antrim 1st Presbyterian church (covering the years 1674 to c 1736). He noted: “Even the same word is not always spelled alike by the same hand. Indeed spelling with most of the recording officials (and they must have been fairly numerous) was a matter of the most sublime indifference. The name William, for instance, is spelled 3 different ways in as many lines; while Donegore, a neighbouring parish, is spelled 10 different ways; but these extend over a good number of years. Many families names are spelled phonetically, while others are given in the most round-about fashion”.

Here are 2 examples of spelling varying within the same family in the same census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Sharvogues/Drumsough/920148/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1851/Antrim/Upper_Glenarm/Carncastle/Four_Score_Acre/5/

So expect spelling to vary. That was the norm.

Going back to O’Hear, it’s just one version of O’Hara, O’Hare, O’Haire. (And the O’ might often be dropped so Hare etc are also commonly used variants).  O’Hear would be pronounced O’Hare. O’Hara would have the emphasis on the first syllable. (Emphasis on the first syllable is a general grammatical rule for most Irish words and comes from how Irish (gaelic) is pronounced).