My surname is MOOMEY. In the 1860 census for Franklin County, New York,
my father's grandfather and father and family were listed as GONIA.
They were Oliver Sr., wife Margarite, Oliver Jr.(11) and Mary (7). They
resided in Fort Covington, NY.
When my grandfather Oliver Jr. married my grandmother Agnes James in
1870 in Brasher Falls, NY his name was MOOMEY. Thus between 1860 and 
1870 our family surname was changed from GONIA TO MOOMEY.  
  I have tried to find the following :1)when was the name changed from
GONIA to MOOMEY. 2)where was the change registered? 3)Why was the name
changed and especially to such a very differnt surname:GONIA TO MOOMEY?

I have a guess for the last question: in the beginning of the century,
people used to change names, so they would sound more "American"
(anglecised). Gonia sounds like a Polish or Greek name, and it could
be that the grandfather did not want to stand out as a "foreigner".

Hi,

I am quite familiar with Franklin County, NY and surrounding area. The
name Gonia is certainly related to the far more frequently occurring
surnames of Gonyo and Gonyea of that region. There is strong French
influence in Northern NY and many names and spellings were Anglicized
at the Canadian/US border. (My personal favorite is Sweener Road,
named for the Choinniere family.)

Now, as for the change to Moomey, my remark really didn’t address that
issue. I wonder if there was a remarriage before your grandfather came
of age.

He was born Oliver Gonia, Jr. and is still recorded as such in the
1860 census correct? But then is recorded as being married as Oliver
Moomey to Agnes James in 1870?

He was 11 when the first census took place so I wonder if his mother
remarried before he left home and her children took her new husband’s
surname?  Or were the children adopted out to someone (a relative
perhaps?) with the last name Moomey?  This was common practice in
those days, especially if a family fell into hard times. Did Oliver Sr
die during that 10-year span? That would be a red flag.

In any case, the name change obviously occurred before the three Gonia
children came of age, so I suspect it had to do with them ending up in
the care of someone with a different surname.

I would check for remarriages, school records for the children,
records of other families with the name Moomey, and see if you can
find a link.

Good luck –

-K~

While the two responses to my question(s) regarding switch of surname
are along the line which our family had thought about, except the
Oliver Sr. and Oliver Jr. listed in the 1860 census of Franklin county
are the same people who emerged in North Lawrence, NY where they lived
out their lives as MOOMEY. Oliver Gonia Sr. was born in 1813, site
unknown, and died in 1903 and is buried in North Lawrence cemetary as
Oliver Moomey. Sr..
Oliver Jr. was born in  2/3/1849 in Fort Covington , NY as Oliver
Gonia, Jr. and died in 1939 and is buried in North Lawrence cemetary
as Oliver Moomey Jr.
Shouldn't there be records of a name change? If Gonia were too
forieign in the north country where french names are and were common
how could Moomey, a name
that appears in no other connection in the northern New York area, be
an
improvement? All NY Moomey's came from this relatively short line
link.Like all such dilemma's there has to be an answer somewhere,
possibly in some dusty archives in Franklin County? The name was Gonia
after they came to Fort Covington thus could not have been tampered
with at any border .

You may never find a documented answer to this question.  There was
nothing to stop a person changing their name and no legal requirement
to lodge any application, form or document stating an intention to do
so.  Basically, during that period the name you were known by was, for
all intents and purposes, your legal name (as long as there was no
intention to defraud anyone).  This is still the case in many places,
such as Australia.

Also, there remains the possibility that the first census record you
have was wrong. Many names were written incorrectly, even to the point
of being unrecognisable, due to heavy accents, phonetic spelling and
other variant factors.

I found some Moomey's who may be able to address your question, if you
haven't already tried this site:

http://genforum.genealogy.com/moomey/


And here is one for Gonia, unfortunately, there's only one message

http://genforum.genealogy.com/gonia/

Good luck.