52 Ancestors: How do you spell that? Alex Seneft

My great-grandfather had several names in his life. He was born Elias Seneft, but by the time he was married he was known as Alec Hilinger, and when he died, Alex Hillinger. Why the change? Because the Germans didn't recognize his parents' marriage in a religious (Jewish) ceremony. His first name was because the family moved to England when he was young. He and most of his family used Anglicised nicknames to better fit in. I still haven't been able to figure out his younger brother or either of his sisters' Hebrew names at this time, though I keep trying to determine that.

Both Seneft and Hillinger are names that have caused several problems in my genealogy search. 

Hillinger is my maiden name, and for my whole childhood, I remember people mangling it. Missing one of the letters when they tried to pronounce it or spell it was a very common occurrence. Worse, when I first began my search, I assumed that Hillinger was the correct spelling, until I realized that my great-great grandmother spelled her name with one L. Or at least, that is what I have been told. So though there are Hillingers in Austria, it is quite possible that we're in no way related to them. At one point, I looked up the name Hilinger on a name mapping site that showed you where the name was most commonly found. The country that came up when I did was Spain, which I found quite fascinating. If that's true, it's quite possible that we're possibly Sephardic Jewish on that branch somewhere. But I have no way to prove it at this time.

Seneft is even more confusing. Some records show it as Senft, some as Seneft, and one branch in England specifically used Senefft. While most searches on genealogy sites do look for variants on a name, I have found it works better to look for all three variants to check for my family, as it only brings up a selection of possibilities otherwise. I will say it's made finding records proving anything about my great-grandfather's family very complicated. 

For a long time, I wasn't even sure of my great-grandfather's eldest brother's name. I'd narrowed it down to Isaac shortly before a distant cousin from that branch of my family got in touch. His grandfather, my great-grandfather's brother, is the one who used Senefft. And it's because I got in touch with him that I now know for certain his name was Isaac. Unfortunately, he and my great grandfather were the only ones of their siblings that had any kids, so none of the rest passed down their pictures or records to show their truths. I keep digging, but unless I get lucky, I doubt I will be able to find out much more about any of them.

Lessons from this branch include: the fact that names change over time. That names changed when people came to the US, not because the Ellis Island people changed them, but that the families changed them to fit into their new country better. That just because the name isn't spelled the way you expect doesn't mean that it isn't the right record. That Jewish people often have more than one first name they used in records. That names weren't a consistent thing before the turn of the 20th century. And that immigration causes loss of records quite often.

I will say that Jewish genealogy is one of the more difficult types of genealogy to engage in. So many moves, and so many attempts to wipe Jews from the face of Europe. People have done everything they can to make the Jewish people no longer part of our world. It's led to a scattering or actual destruction of the records on my people. And it's made those who still practice more secretive. 

Add to that the Mormon insistence on bringing everyone under their "god's" banner, and I have been very disinclined to help them "baptize" a people who have been struggling to keep their community together despite gentiles' insistence that they need to be done away with. If you are part of that church, I beg you to remember what happened to these people less than a Century ago. And what happened across Europe even before that. I would beg you to remember that yours is not the only belief, and to think of how you would feel if it were your mother, cut down by people who felt the Mormon faith needed to be expunged from the world that someone decided to bring her into their faith to "save" her. Don't do it. I don't care if you were related to these Jews or not. They would not have converted. Don't forcibly "convert" them now.