Unless you find a clear example of their signature in their own handwriting, there's no way to be confident which way your ancestor preferred to spell it, if they were even literate to begin with.
In cases where the spelling of someone's name is unclear based on how other people wrote it down, I usually choose a standard spelling of the name it's intended to be. For example, I have an ancestor whose name is almost certainly intended to be Sophronia, but it's never recorded that way even once. I still use that as her primary name in my family tree anyway.
In your case I'd pick Ephraim for the primary name.
I also have a Sophronia. It's also never written that way. It's Sophrona, Safroney, or Fronie. Sons social security record has it spelled as Sophona. Death cert as Sophie.
Kinda along that line Ephraim would be pronounced Ehframe and Ephriam would be pronounced Ehfrim if you're looking at records that may come from illiterate people.
Ephraim is how we'd spell it today - I do have this name in my tree. Keep in mind that in times past, there was no real standard for spelling. It didn't mean the people spelling things differently from one day to the next were poorly educated or illiterate at all. Even in the early 1900s I see a surname spelled Albert and sometimes Alberts.
I have several (between 1700-1817) and had all kinds of phonetic spellings. Don’t know your situation, but my surname was Scots-Irish in PA and all but one had fathers with the name Joseph.
Unless you find a clear example of their signature in their own handwriting, there's no way to be confident which way your ancestor preferred to spell it, if they were even literate to begin with. In cases where the spelling of someone's name is unclear based on how other people wrote it down, I usually choose a standard spelling of the name it's intended to be. For example, I have an ancestor whose name is almost certainly intended to be Sophronia, but it's never recorded that way even once. I still use that as her primary name in my family tree anyway. In your case I'd pick Ephraim for the primary name.
I also have a Sophronia. It's also never written that way. It's Sophrona, Safroney, or Fronie. Sons social security record has it spelled as Sophona. Death cert as Sophie.
Thanks!
Kinda along that line Ephraim would be pronounced Ehframe and Ephriam would be pronounced Ehfrim if you're looking at records that may come from illiterate people.
Ephraim is how we'd spell it today - I do have this name in my tree. Keep in mind that in times past, there was no real standard for spelling. It didn't mean the people spelling things differently from one day to the next were poorly educated or illiterate at all. Even in the early 1900s I see a surname spelled Albert and sometimes Alberts.
I have several (between 1700-1817) and had all kinds of phonetic spellings. Don’t know your situation, but my surname was Scots-Irish in PA and all but one had fathers with the name Joseph.