The FitzSimons Family Name: Spelling variations: Fitzsimons,
FitzSimons and Fitzsimmons are the most common, but FitzSimon,
Fitzsimonds, FitzSymons, Fitzsimmins, Fitzsymmons, Fitzsimon,
Fitzsymons, FitzKimmons, FitzKimmins, Fitzkimmons, Fitzkimmins,
and many more can be found. More information on spelling
differences (particulary between England and Ireland) can be
found here  Preface: The prefix "Fitz" merely means "Son of".
There is a misconception (pardon the pun) that it means
"illegitimate offspring of" which might have arisen from the
alleged bestowal of the name "Fitzroy" by royalty as a family
name for the illegitimate children of their mistresses. However
I digress. Misspellings: See the history below, but more
recently (especially from 1845 during the emigration from
Ireland due to the great potato famine years) family names might
be mis-spelled on records such as passenger lists. Remembering
that literacy was not high among all classes back then,
sometimes spelling was arbitarily written down by cl