Murl Sanders Litaker, Sr. (1896-1955), 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 15, "How Do You Spell That?"

My maternal great-grandfather, Murl Sanders Litaker, Sr. (1896-1955), in his World War I uniform.
(Photo given to me by his daughter, my maternal grandmother.)

When I saw this week's theme of "How Do You Spell That?" for +Amy Johnson Crow and NoStoryTooSmall.com's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge, I did not have to think twice about my subject. (Okay, I did think exactly twice, because only one other ancestor jumped immediately to mind.  However, I decided not to write about Molsie Jane Talbert Litaker again since I just posted about her last week!)

My maternal great-grandfather's name was Murl Sanders Litaker, Sr.  ("Murl" rhymes with "pearl," in case the reader is not quite sure how to pronounce it.) I did some research on this given name, and it is derived from French and means "falcon."1 It peaked in popularity as a boy's name in 1924 when 0.0056% of American boys had this name bestowed upon them; and, since 1983, there have not been five or more children of either gender named Murl according to Social Security Administration data.2

As one may imagine from the statistics given above, census enumerators, draft registrars, and, surely, many others frequently must have asked my great-grandfather and his parents, "How do you spell that?" It seems that, even if those individuals asked, they still often got the spelling wrong:

• In the 1900 U.S. Census, the census enumerator recorded his given name as "Mearl."3
• In the 1910 U.S. Census, the census enumerator recorded his given name as "Mirl."4
• On his World War I draft registration card, the registrar recorded his given name as "Muerl."5
• In the 1920 U.S. Census, the census enumerator recorded his given name as "Merl."6

On 17 July 1925, Murl and his wife, Faye Elizabeth Litaker, had their first child, a son they named Murl Sanders Litaker, Jr.  The North Carolina, Birth Indexes, 1800-2000 incorrectly recorded both son and father's given names as "Merle."7  I feel certain that my grand uncle still often gets asked, "How do you spell that?"

(For those that may be interested, I wrote an Amanuensis Monday post earlier this year in which I transcribed a World War I [circa April 1919] postcard from Murl, Sr. to his mother.)
__________
1Murl Meaning. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.ourbabynamer.com/meaning-of-Murl.html.
2Murl Name Popularity. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.ourbabynamer.com/Murl-name-popularity.html.
31900 U.S. Census, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, population schedule, Cooks Cross Roads, enumeration district (ED) 0016, p. 8A (handwritten), dwelling -, family 134; Mearl [sic] S. Litaker; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 April 2015); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 1185.
41910 U.S. Census, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, population schedule, Township 4, enumeration district (ED) 0038, p. 22B (handwritten), dwelling -, family 111; Mirl [sic] Litaker; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 April 2015); citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 1100.
5"U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com, : accessed 12 April 2015); Cabarrus County, North Carolina, Township 4, Muerl [sic] S. Litaker entry, dated 05 June 1917.
61920 U.S. Census, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, population schedule, Cooks Cross, enumeration district (ED) 44, p. 6A (handwritten), dwelling Fm., family 97; Merl [sic] Litake [sic]; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 April 2015); citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 1288.
7Merle [sic] Sanders Litaker, Jr.; from " North Carolina, Birth Indexes, 1800-2000" database online, Ancestry.com (http://interactive.ancestry.com/8783/NCVR_B_C016_66001-0256/1243211 : accessed 12 April 2015), imaged from Register of Deeds, North Carolina Birth Indexes; citing "North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh."


©Amy Wood Kelly, 2015 - I am happy to share my genealogical research and writing with others, as well as to help others with their research efforts.  However, please do not reprint this post in full or in part or use excerpts from this post without giving full credit to me, Amy Wood Kelly, as the researcher and author as well as providing the permalink to this post.  Thank you, in advance, for showing respect for my request and the work I put into creating this post.