Is there an "official" way to handle second/alias surnames in family trees?
I have a German ancestor with the surname "Clute" who took over ownership of his wife's estate/farm. Some records and other user-created trees include "genannt Freiburg". Different descendants appear to use Clute as their surname, while others used Freiburg. So when I'm putting these people in my tree, should I put "Clute" or "Clute genannt Freiburg" or "Clute-Freiburg" or "Freiburg"....? What do you think? What is more correct according to any established/official genealogy protocol?
Risposte
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I'm no expert on this, so don't trust me - but:
I've run into this with Scandanavian (mostly Swedish) research where people might have a patronymic name (i.e. Andersson, Larsson) but later in life take another surname (i.e. Sandberg, Lundgren). When they went by both names at some point in their life, I usually put both (someone who was born Per Andersson and later went by Per Lundgren would be put in as Per Andersson Lundgren).
However, if some family members use exclusively one name, I would just put that name, maybe add a note explaining what you know.
Another thing to note is that, on FamilySearch Tree, you can add an "alternate name". So, in your case, you could have, for example, a Johann Heinrich who usually went by Clute but sometimes by Freiburg, you could put him in as Johann Heinrich Clute and add and alternate name listed as "Also Known As" and put Johann Heinrich Freiburg. You can do that in the "other information" tab and by clicking "add information."
Hope that helps!
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Here is a FamilySearch Wiki article that covers naming. In my research I list the main/first surname and put the alias under alternate names. https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Germany_Names,_Personal I don't know if there is any official genealogy protocol.
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