Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Changing the spelling of a name, no matter how critics may rail against it, is really nothing new. But, while parents today change a spelling to make it "look better" or to be "more unique", in the past, spellings were often altered to make name look like it meant something better. I suspect the main culprits were those most likely to care about that sort of thing (not to mention most likely to be literate)--the clergy and the well-educated.
After all, it looks much better to say: "My daughter's name means 'pure'."
rather than: "We're not really sure where it came from. Possibly, it relates to a pagan goddess."

• Agnes--original form: Hagne (Greek, "chaste"). Changed to resemble Latin agnos, "lamb".
• Anthony--original form: Antonius (prob. Etruscan, meaning unknown). Changed to resemble Greek anthos, "flower".
• Avis--original form: Aveza (Germanic, "desired"). Changed to resemble Latin avis, "bird".
• Beatrix--original form: Viatrix (Latin, "traveller"). Changed to resemble Latin beatus, "blessed".
• Cyrus/Kyros--original form: Kurush (prob. Persian, meaning uncertain; poss. "sun", "caregiver", or "young"). Changed to resemble Greek kyrios, "lord".
• Heloise/Eloise--original form: Helewidis (Germanic, "healthy and wide"). Changed to resemble Greek helios, "sun"
• Ignatius--original form: Egnatius (Etruscan, meaning unknown). Changed to resemble Latin ignis, "fire".
• Katherine--original form: Aikaterine (Greek, meaning uncertain). Changed to resemble Greek katharos, "pure".
• Lance--original form: Lanzo (Germanic, "land"). Changed to resemble French lance, "spear".
• Leopold--original form: Leudbald (Germanic, "of bold people"). Changed to resemble Latin leo, "lion".
• Oliver--original form: prob. Alfher (Germanic, "elf warrior") or Aleifr (Norse, "ancestor's descendent"). Changed to resemble Latin oliva, "olive tree".
• Percival--original form: Peredur (Welsh, meaning unknown). Changed to resemble French percer, "to pierce".
• Philbert--original form: Filibert (Germanic, "very bright"). Changed to resemble Greek philos, "love".
• Rose--original form: Rohese (Germanic, "of famous kind"). Changed to resemble Latin rosa.
• Rosamund--original form: Rosmunda (Germanic, "horse protector"). Changed to resemble Latin rosa munda, "pure rose".
• Skyler--original form: Schuyler (Dutch, "scholar"). Changed to resemble English sky.
• Tristan--original form: Drustan (Pictish, "little riot"). Changed to resemble Latin tristis, "sad".
• Veronica--original form: Pheronike (Greek, "bringer of victory"). Changed to resemble Latin vera icon, "true image".
• Winifred--original form: Gwenfrewi (Welsh, "holy reconciliation"). Changed to resemble Old English win fred, "friend of peace".