Clarify female surname on Last name entry box in Ancestor Profile
On the ancestor profile page, when you enter the last name for a female, there is a note under the Last Name entry box that says "If female, use maiden name." Most people enter the female's maiden name only, but a few enter both maiden and married names. It seems it would be better for the note to say "If female, use maiden name only". That way the data would probably be more consistent on the tree. Thanks!
Comments
-
Better yet, leave off the "if female": "Use maiden or birth name."
By my interpretation, "use maiden name" already excludes married names, and I'm pretty sure it's not the lack of the word "only" that causes people to enter both names. Rather, it's due to their lack of reading comprehension or attention to detail, or, if I'm being slightly more charitable, it's because they disagree with the instruction.
5 -
In the "Alternate Names" section, the instruction is less helpful. That's where we DO enter married names or the name used after immigration, to make searching more fruitful. There, we also get the instruction to use maiden name. That's an instruction I ignore every day.
6 -
@Áine Ní Donnghaile, yikes! I'd never noticed that "use maiden name" instruction when trying to enter a married name. That's definitely a, how shall I put this, not-fully-thought-out bit of interface.
2 -
I growl at it every time I see it, @Julia Szent-Györgyi. I admit I have not given feedback on it. Maybe @lyleblunttoronto1 could take a look?
1 -
I had not noticed this either (under Alternate Name). Definitely needs to be removed asap.
On the main issue, thanks "the both" for saving my time in otherwise making the same comments!
3 -
I'm just wondering if the instruction should be to use the Birth Name rather than the Maiden Name? That would mean the basic instruction should be the same for both men and women. I also wonder if "Birth Name" might be more clearly understood than "Maiden Name"?
There is (at least) one case where "Birth Name" will differ from "Maiden Name". I have been told (by a former UK Registrar) that "Maiden Name" is the last family name held by a woman prior to her first marriage - if her mother remarried between the birth of her child and that child's marriage, then the child might marry under her step-father's surname. In which case, her maiden name would be her step-father's surname, which would be different from her birth name.
Logically the first two names (at least) should appear on the person's profile, one being an Alternate Name. I'd tend to put the Birth Name in the Vitals Box, and the Maiden Name (i.e. using step-father's surname) in the Alternate Names but I'm not sure if it makes a practical difference.
2 -
I wonder if that is the same former UK Registrar who told me the same thing. 😉 Naming no names.
1 -
"I wonder if that is the same..." Quite probably @Áine Ní Donnghaile - I don't think there are that many of them! 😉
1 -
Thanks for that fascinating tidbit of information about names. I have a lot of English ancestors so will have to look out for that particular convention.
These little gems, like the fact that western US newspapers in the early 1900s called a woman who was divorced a widow even though her ex-husband was alive and well, add a bit of excitement to researching.
1 -
@Gordon Collett Eastern US newspapers and city directories did the same with divorced/separated women.
0
