Ralegh or Raleigh

The most common popular spelling of Sir Walter’s surname in recent times has been Raleigh, despite the fact that he never signed his name with that spelling and Ralegh has been used by biographers and scholars since the 18th century. William Stebbing, in his biography of Ralegh published in 1899, devoted several pages to listing the numerous variant spellings in Sir Walter’s lifetime, not only the familiar Ralegh and Raleigh but also, among others, Rawley, Raulie, Raleghe, Rawlighe, Rawleighe, Raughleigh, Rawle, Raligh and Rawley. This is consistent with a time before orthography for surnames became standardised and when many attempts were made to render spelling phonetically. Ralegh’s early signatures included the phonetic Rauley, but from 1584 he only ever used Ralegh as a signature and in his books. The greatest of those was his Historie of the World, in which his preferred spelling can be seen on the title page reproduced here.