What is the best way to write names of my ancestors who were known by more than one name?

WayneGroner

What is the best way to write names of my ancestors who were known by more than one name?

My great-grandmother's name is Anne Margaretta in her birth record, Anna Margaretha in her marriage record, and Anna Margaret on her grave marker. Her husband's records show him as Franz, Francis and Frank.

Carol Ann1

Wayne,

Put her birth record name as her main name. Have you seen the Marriage certificate? Margaretha could possibly be an indexing error. The other names can be entered in "Other Information" "Alternate names". I would do the same with her husband. Do you have the PID numbers from the FamilySearch site? I can take a look at the record, but need surnames and locations to make sure I'm looking at the correct record.

Hope this helps and thank you for using the FamilySearch community.

Carol

WayneGroner

Thank you, Carol Ann. Her PID is KGB5-VQG. Her husband Franz's PID is KJW-QVY. Her marriage record image is in ancestry.com as Anne Margarette Scheulen. The handwritten marriage record of her middle name could be Margaretta. Even though FamilySearch lists seven records for her birth entry, I did not see one that is a specific birth record; all are U.S. Census records.

 

Her husband's record in myheritage.com lists his name as Franz, Frank, and Francis, with a last name Otto and an alternate last name Wilmenotte. It's likely Wilmenotte was his birth name and it got changed when he came to USA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dennis J Yancey

Franz, Frank, Francis - are merely different versions of the same name

with Franz being the most likely in the old word.

WayneGroner

Thanks, Dennis.

WayneGroner

Carol,

Anna's surname was Scheulen. Frank's surname was Otto.

Carol Ann1

Wayne,

Thanks for the surnames. The records look good.

Carol

multiplesons1.5294187457446106E12

There is no standard, really. Personally, I put the name that the person used most commonly during his adult life. For example my great-grandmother was born Lorraine Belle Bowman. But as an adult she advertised her chiropractic business and appears in musical programs and on her marriage licenses (three marriages!) as Laura B. So I use Laura B as her main name with the other variants listed under other names as Birth Name, etc.

 

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Julia Szent-Györgyi

Neither of those people were known by more than one name. Their names simply got recorded in more than one form. "Known by more than one name" is Samuel Clemens versus Mark Twain, not minor spelling variations like Margaret(h)(a) or language variations like Franz/Frank/Francis.

 

For choosing a language and spelling for the name fields in Vitals, there are no hard and fast rules. You can go with "earliest"/"first" and use whatever the birth record says, but if that's in Latin, it may not be a good choice. I like using names from marriage records, because the people were by definition adults and presumably had knowledge of and some input on the recorded name. It's best to choose a form in the language that the person primarily used, if known, but this may or may not narrow down the spelling options. At some point, you simply have to choose.

 

In the instant case, I would use Anna Margarethe and Franz, because those are fairly standard for German (which I presume these people spoke, based on all of their names).

WayneGroner

Thanks, Julia.

 

WayneGroner

Thank you.