Quote Originally Posted by MarkSpurgeon View Post
I have found a John Spurr but don't think the parish records would mess up the spelling this poorly. Can you confirm that Spurr was a name used that was probably another family entirely. and then I could eliminate Spurr in my Spurgeon search ?
You should never be surprised at the wild variations in spelling. However, in this case Spurr is a genuine name and I would be inclined to view it as another family. Looking at FMP and FreeBMD, it seems to occur mainly in Yorkshire, with very few examples in London - but in Ancestry's London parish records there are plenty of Spurrs being baptized, married and buried.

I think that with Spurgeon any alternative spellings are more likely to be made with the whole word (Spargin, Spurgan etc.) rather than omitting the final syllable.