As a reviewer of marriage certificates, I see a number of indexer enter the surname of the groom in
It is interesting that there is a maiden name box in the groom's information area. When I Googled the meaning of a maiden name almost all entries refer to it as pertaining to the bride but in some places is refers to it as a birth name for men or women. Should a maiden name for the groom be entered?
I never questioned what to do until I came across a project of marriage certificates that specifically listed the birth name of both the groom and the bride. Before, the forms only listed the surname.
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This morning I started indexing some Wisconsin marriage records from 2005 - 2015, and I saw in the project instructions the example of how to index the record showed that both the groom and the brides maiden name fields typed in from the birth surname field. That is different from other Wisconsin marriage projects I've done from earlier years.
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Thank you. I continue to learn how to more accurately index. Good grief! When I think of all the things I have done wrong and the progress I have made I only hope that partially accurate indexing is better than none at all.
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Why does FamilySearch persist in misusing language? This is similar to indexing Executors in probate documents as Beneficiaries.
The phrase "maiden name" surely can only apply to females. Maiden???
Secondly, in the UK at least, it does not mean birth name - it means the name immediately prior to first marriage. (Mind you, how many people realize that is debatable)
So why not index the Birth name on these certificates as Birth Name? Instead of something that is wrong twice over for males, and wrong once over for females?
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