How do I report someone who was born under one name but changed their name.
Both identities appear on this site.
Answers
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You can merge the 2 profiles into one. Have one name under the vitals section and the other under the alternate name section. Add a discussion or note - under the Collaborative tab indicating how you know they are the same person - also include this in the merge reason statement.
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@Joseph9,112 - I agree with @Amy Archibald and I hope that she doesn't mind me adding that usually the name in the Vitals section is the birth name while the later name goes into the Alternate names. However, FamilySearch doesn't seem to be particularly wedded to this idea and there are plenty of instances where it's the other way round, particularly if the birth name is only used for a short time, or if there is some strong social/emotional reason for the change (eg a rejection of the parent whose surname provided the birth name).
If you do end up with the later name in the Vital section, please follow Amy's advice and splatter notes in the profile explaining what happened (so far as you can) - I had one instance where the later name was in the Vitals and had been assumed to be the one describing the person's ancestry - they had then been merged with my granddad's cousin who had similar details with the later name. I put the birth name into the Vitals which is made it much easier to trace the guy's ancestry. It also made it easier to line up his data with his brother's - the brother had also changed his name. With birth names in the Vitals, the 2 look like brothers, whereas if I'd put the later names in the Vitals, they wouldn't look like brothers as both had changed surnames but to different surnames. I suspect, but don't know, that they'd rejected their biological father.
Basically, just think carefully about which way round to put the names.
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I include this link in the Reason section when there is a legal name change:
https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-enter-my-ancestors-name-if-it-changedIt states:
How do I enter my ancestor's name if it changed?In general, enter the birth name in the Vitals section of the Person page.
Enter other names, such as nicknames, in the Other Information section.
Legal name changes are an exception.- For a legal name change, enter the most recent legal name in the Vitals section.
- If the person did not use the legal name in life, you have the option to enter the commonly used name in the Vitals section and the legal name in the Other Information section.
- When record sources do not use the legal name, enter the variations in the Other Information section.
Important: Please do not enter the word "or" in the name field or use parentheses or quote marks.
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When entering an alternative name there is a drop down menu. “Birth Name” is one of the options. When looking at the other options I assumed (for my grandfather) that it was most appropriate to put the name he assumed in later life in the Vitals and his birth name as the Alternative.
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Since the original poster mentions Both identities appear on this site
perhaps the question is about a possible merge.
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@Nyx773 - thanks for the link. I don't think that I'd seen that particular version.
I hope you'll excuse my pedantry but if the instructions refer to detailed concepts (as they do) it's always worth wondering if they've caught all the variations that real life throws at us.
In the first place, the UK (and ?) has no concept of a Legal Name - I can call myself anything I like and it only becomes an issue if my "other name" is used by me in an attempt to defraud, when the criminal act is the defrauding, not the altered name. Having said that, the UK does have legal processes that can be used to change a name - but the "legal" bit refers to the process not the name.
Incidentally, I would be fairly certain that the concept of a "legal name" in that text, was not meant to include names acquired at marriage.
A further complication will be - what evidence is required to show a legal name change? Is such evidence generally available?
I sympathise with the idea but perhaps we shouldn't take the quoted suggestions too literally.
For what it's worth, the example I quoted above (a change from a birth name of Matthews in England, IIRC, to Purcell in Montana) comes as close as anyone can usually get to a legal name change, I suspect. However, in that instance, I put Matthews in the Vitals section, to avoid confusion with my relative in the UK and to make the Vital name consistent with that for his brother. If neither of those applied, I suspect that I'd have left the later Purcell in the Vitals section.
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@Áine.ní.Donnghaile
I think there are 2 issues raised by the OP:
Merging (addressed by Amy Archibald) and deciding which name should survive the merge.0 -
When I first read it, the day it was posted, I wondered if the OP was commenting about a living person using two different usernames. The word "report" can be misleading.
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Until the early 1900s (or maybe late 1800s?), the U.S. had similar policies regarding names.
Some people call their legal name their “government” name.
The link I previously provided does seem to be a bit sparse in information and instructions. I agree that it should address maiden names. Plus it seems to be U.S.-centric.
It is not uncommon for U.S. immigrants and/or their children to change their last name to something easier to pronounce/spell and/or to reduce discrimination by being less “ethnic”.
I have yet to see actual paperwork for a legal name change. The closest has been WWII draft records stating "per court order" or birth certificates being "corrected". Mostly it is the paper trail of other records or family lore.
I've also seen some men who flip-flopped a few times with their last name: from birth surname to other surname back to birth surname and sometimes to yet another surname. Deciding which of those surnames to put in the Vitals section sometimes requires throwing a dart at a dartboard.
I don’t think it is confusing to have different surnames for children on a family tree. If marked correctly, it’s obvious that they are the children of those parents. And if the FS user documented correctly (which unfortunately seems to be a rarity), then the name difference will be noted on the child’s profile for anybody wondering why there is a difference.
In summary, it's best to have every known name listed in the Alternate name section, and sometimes even typos. Plus explain everything.
Tree Examples:
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