Adopting Stepfathers surname

[Gerald Wright]

How do other enter this type of information in Reunion. Three sons of the first marriage (Smith) end up using their stepfather's surname (Jones). I've thought of entering there surnames as Smith-Jones. How have other handled this issue?

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Adopting Stepfathers surname

How do other enter this type of information in Reunion. Three sons of the first marriage (Smith) end up using their stepfather's surname (Jones). I've thought of entering there surnames as Smith-Jones. How have other handled this issue?

I like "Smith, later Jones".

Or "Smith, later Worcestershire-Smith", depending on whether the later name was changed or hypenated. If nothing else, using "later" makes everything explicit and people who use your database don't need to know what conventions you use if you make them explicit.

[AlPrunty]

Re: Adopting Stepfathers surname

I like "Smith, later Jones".

Or "Smith, later Worcestershire-Smith", depending on whether the later name was changed or hypenated. If nothing else, using "later" makes everything explicit and people who use your database don't need to know what conventions you use if you make them explicit.

To make it work better for search indexes I enter both names as separate records. I put the birth Name as Joe Smith and then enter an alternative name as Joe Jones.

I have ran into this many times and have had great difficulty finding research because the search engine thinks the entire last name is "Smith Later Jones" they tend to ignore the comma and make "later" into another name. It's not uncommon for Spanish and other european people to have multiple surnames.

Generally with alternative names ancestry, and all the big databases that are on line will index the alternative names.

Also you can set the child status as adopted and I believe that there is an adoption event where you can document the official date of the adoption which would further provide evidence that the child was adopted and the name changed legally on this date.

Allen