Names such as Shurayḥ ibn al-Nuʿmān and Surayj ibn al-Nuʿmān illustrate a shared father’s name with differences in the narrator’s own given name and vocalization. Agreement in one component does not remove variation in another.
The investigator first determines whether these are distinct individuals, and only then describes the difference in spelling or pronunciation. A shared patronymic in a manuscript does not by itself prove that the varying first name is merely a scribal accident.
Practical step: compare the teacher and pupil named in each isnād against independent biographical evidence, and prefer a particular reading only after identification is established.