Alias names on New York Naturalizations

Monica Leatherman

I am indexing New York Naturalizations and I assume that I would include any names they previously had or the

ones they wish to have it changed to. However, I do not find that mentioned in the instructions. Am I missing something??

Melissa S Himes

The instruction is in the field helps for given name:

Include all aliases, nicknames, or variant names that were given for a person, separating them with the word Or.

They show aliases on the first two examples as well. But, the instruction probably should have been included in the Surname Field Help. I suppose they would point us to the General Indexing Guidelines for Alias Names.

If alias names were included on a document, or if an individual's name was listed with various spellings on the document, include all variants, separating each with the word Or. For example, if a name was written as "Georgios (George), George Broski, George Browzowski, or George Brzozowski," index the name fields as follows:

• Given Name: Georgios Or George
• Surname: Broski Or Browzowski Or Brzozowski

LindaCP

Hi Monica,

In the future, if you would please include the batch number located in brackets at the end of the Project name above the green or red line, it would be greatly appreciated. The reason for needing to look at the actual batch is that without looking at the batch we cannot see exactly the type of document you are indexing .

While you do index variants of names with the word Or between them, there are some Naturalization documents which are for name changes. These would fall under the instruction in Bullet point 1 under What to Index:

• Do not index name change records, certificates of loyalty, certificates of arrival, or affidavits of witnesses. These images should be marked in Step 1: Images as No, No Extractable Data.

Thank you for your patience and loving help in indexing these precious records.

Abraham Kossi Houetognon

Thanks for sharing this with us.

Regarding indexing, you are to enter exactly what you see on the captured document which is required in the fields to fill. You do not need to include any other thing different from that.

Monica Leatherman

Thank you!

SMacR

Hi @Monica Leatherman

Both of the answers provided above are correct.

However, without actually looking at the batch you are working on it is difficult to give you a complete answer.

Would you please post the Batch Code and project name? You can find this above the green line while you are indexing or the red line while you are reviewing. You can just copy and paste this into this feed.

Example: US, New York—Naturalization Records, 1820–1991 [Part D][M38Q-KV3]

Thank you for the time you are spending on working on these precious records.

Melissa S Himes

The question was where is the instruction - it is in the field helps.

Melissa S Himes

You probably would get the best answer by asking NARA. I highly recommend asking in the History Hub to get answers to questions like yours.

https://historyhub.history.gov/welcome