Talk:Steve Forde (footballer)

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Name

I've done a bit of digging with regard to the name as I was surprised to see that the page had been moved. I'm happy to accept that 'Steven' (which I had originally sourced from the Who's Who of West Ham United) was wrong and should be 'Stephen'. However, it appears that the surname is now incorrect though I can see that a number of sources do indeed use 'Ford' for his time before joining West Ham.

The surname is listed as 'Forde' in a number of West Ham publications, as well as in Joyce (2012 ed.)/ENFA, AFS and Hugman. This is also confirmed on theyflysohigh, West Ham historian Steve Marsh's website, which gives birth and death details as well as his autograph.

I've spoken to Steve Marsh and he has also sent me some other sources to confirm the name, and provided the following:

"The first mention of Forde in the programme was his signing. Snippet from the Chelsea Reserve programme dated 9 January 1937. Note: He was listed as being STEPHEN FORD. His surname is clearly wrong, as all subsequent mentions are as FORDE.

His first game programme against Southend gives him as FORDE. And he signed his autograph as STEVE FORDE."

Although the 'e' at the end of his signature is quite small, it is still clearly visible. The death record, showing the surname as 'Forde', can be seen on familysearch.org.

What appears to have happened is that the surname was recorded as 'Ford' by club officials and/or local journalists and went uncorrected until he got to West Ham. After joining, and the initial announcement showing the incorrect surname, this was then corrected to 'Forde' and this has remained as the common name in all subsequent sources.

I intend to move the article to Steve Forde (footballer). @Burntwoodmtb: please let me know if that is going to be an issue for you. If it is, I'll open a requested move. Thanks, Nzd (talk) 01:21, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]