Uncapitalised names

[pit]

Certain surnames, specifically those beginning with ff such as ffoulkes, do not have a capital letter. Why? I wondered if it might have something to do with the fact that the italicised lower case f used to represent the letter s in written English.

[Quizmonster]

In medi�val manuscripts, a capital 'F' was often written as 'ff'. It was as a result of misunderstanding this simple fact that some surnames, such as 'fforde', are spelt thus. As far as modern English is concerned, it's a mistake, in other words!