In some Croatia records, I sometimes see "alias" between what appears to be 2 surnames. I am trying
Hi,
I am looking for help in understanding how some names are showing in certain Croatia records. For some individuals the Latin word “alias” is frequently used (but not always) between what appears to be 2 different surnames. “Alias” in google translate shows “more” or “elsewhere” or “at another time” or “for other reasons”. Below are urls to three examples where the name of one individual appears 3 different ways in different records and his wife’s name appears 2 different ways. The three different ways the husband’s names appear are: 1) Mathias Sepich Lucetich, 2) Mathaeus Sepich, and 3) Mathęi Sepich alias Luzetich. In the 2nd and 3rd records, the wife’s name is noted as “Helena Negovetich” and in the third example the name is noted as “Helena Negovetich alias Chiarin”.
The “alias” shows frequently in other names as well. I am trying to understand what “alias” means in these records and how the name(s) should be recorded in FamilySearch.
One other request would be an interpretation of the name and sex of the child (Simon or Simonea) in the third example in the PDF doc.
I appreciate you taking time to review this request and to provide any insights on how to handle these situations.
Thanks,
Kyle
Example 1
Mošćenice Births 1784-1813, Deaths 1784-1813, Marriages 1784-1813
Image 86 - Right side entry #5 - Death of Mathias Sepich Lucetich born 16 January 1796 death record
Example 2
Mošćenice Marriages 1734-1773 Church Census
Image 23 – Left side entry #5 - Marriage of Mathaeus Sepich and Helena Negovetich 24 January 1753
Example 3
Mošćenice Births 1734-1773
Image 82 – Left side entry #3 - Birth of Simon or Simonea? Son of Mathęi Sepich alias Luzetich and Helena Negovetich alias Chiarin born 26 November 1753
답변들
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alias means 'also known as'. These people, for whatever reason, had two surnames by which they were known. In Germany, when you see this, you expect that the family had come into property and adopted the name of the farm or family that lived on the farm (as in the case of a man marrying a woman whose family owned the farm). However, I am rally not familiar with Croatian research, so do not know why the families had more than one surname. But what this means for you is that you need to be aware of BOTH surnames when you are researching. Trace every person with either of these names.
Hope that helps.
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Fairly literal translations of alias are "otherwise" or "differently". (Don't rely on Google Translate: its method fails utterly on languages that do not have a fixed ordering of sentence parts, such as Latin.)
The most common explanation I've seen for multiple surnames is disambiguation: if more than one local family had the same surname, and of course everyone used the same limited set of given names, then things could quickly get rather confusing. In such cases, the different bearers of the same name would get an extra descriptor added. ("Which Mike Smith?" "The one who married Mr. Taylor's daughter." "Ah, Mike Taylor Smith.") Used often enough, such a descriptor could "stick" and become part of the family's usual designation.
I read the 1753 record as ...baptizavit in Ecclesia Collegiata S. Andrea~ Simonem filium legitimum Mathe~i Sepich alias Lugetich..., which I think is something along the lines of "baptised in the parish church of St. Andrew, Simon the legitimate son of Matthew Sepich otherwise Lugetich". Notice that the previous entry says basically the same thing (except with a different father's name, of course), and it's somewhat more readable.
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Thanks for the response and comments.
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Thanks Julia for your response and perspective. I appreciate the additional context provided.
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