The Spelling of Wissner

I have heard it said that "Wissner" was not the original spelling of the name. After checking with the 1990 USA Census information, I found the following similar names.
 

Names Similar to Wissner
Rank in the USA 1990 Census for Frequency
Number in Grand Rapids Phonebook
Number in Michigan (Using Yahoo's People Search)
Number in the USA (Using Yahoo's People Search)
Wisner
7633
24
109
Over 200
Wiesner
10959
0
20
Over 200
Wesner
11430
0
72
Over 200
Weisner
14712
4
10
Over 200
Weesner
15620
2
15
Over 200
Wisener
18857
1
5
Over 200
Wessner
24099
0
2
Over 200
Whisner
32580
1
4
Over 200
Wissner
Lower than 88799
4
41
151
Wiessner
Lower than 88799
1
8
145
Wizner
Lower than 88799
0
16
86
Wesener
Lower than 88799
0
11
41
Wiesener
Lower than 88799
0
1
25
Wezner
Lower than 88799
0
8
21
Weizner
Lower than 88799
0
0
3
Wiessener
Lower than 88799
0
0
2
TOTALS
Probably Less Than 0.005% of the USA (Maybe 1 in 20,000 people)
37
322
Maybe 13,000

Here is a list of the variations that I tried that didn't find anyone: Wiezner, Weezner, Wizzner, Wiezzner, Wezzner, Whiezner, Whezner, Wheizner,Wheezner, Whizzner, Whiezzner, Whezzner, Whiesner, Whesner, Wheisner,Wheesner, Whissner, Whiessner, Whessner, Wheezner, Wheezener, Whizener, Whisener, Weisener, Weesener, Wissener, Wessener.

I was quite surprised to find that some of these spellings worked. I never would have guessed there were so many. I know that these don't all sound the same, but I found it interesting none the less. Are all 16 surnames related?

Click here to go to The U.S. Census Bureau Population Topics page. It include a U.S. and a World population clock. 1