How to deal with alternate (spellings of) name

[eric.vanbeest]

This is a question I should have probably posted several years ago when I started building out my family tree, but it was not something I considered then...

How do y'all document alternate names, or alternative spellings of names, in Reunion?

The GEDCOM standard allows for multiple instances of a NAME, specifying the type of name such as married name etc. Each of these instances can have the own source reference.
Reunion allows all of 1 name (with specific sources, ok). But only 1. To work around this, I have been using the Alias/AKA fact field, which is fine but not intended for that purpose.

Shurely there must be a better solution to this?

[KirkS]

Not sure this helps but I try to use the variation that was preferred by the person her/himself.

For example, I have ARROWOOD ancestors. My grandfather spelled it ARRWOOD, one of his brothers used ARWOOD, and another brother used AROWOOD. I try to respect their choices.

[theKiwi]

I tend to put the various variations of a name a person used into the Last Name field like

Moffat or Moffitt or Moffit

and you can apply multiple sources to that, each one showing the reason for each variation - eg

image.png

Roger

[Blaise A. Darveaux]

Roger's method is interesting. I will have to investigate.

I use a number of different marks. I have a log called "Designating Marks" to store them and their uses.

parentheses - married names (rarely used) ( ) ---I almost always use birth name. In much of French Canada a woman never took her husband's name so there really was no such thing as "Marrried name" or "maiden name". Her full birth name was her name for life.

double quotes - nick names or new (or Anglicized version) name after immigration “ “
Example, my father: Gerald "Jerry" Francis Darveaux
Example, my G-grandmother: Sophia Amelia "Emma" Magdalaine "McDonald"

curvy brackets - exclude sensitive data { }

straight brackets - comments of this researcher; not data in the source [ ]

large single chevron - variant spelling Xxxxx <Yyyyyy> It depends a bit on the pronunciation of the variant. Some names if French (and probably other languages) a name can be spelled several different ways, and yet, pronounced identically.

There are also names that people were baptized by and dit names (names that people used to distinguish themselves from other people who had identical names and lived nearby).

[theKiwi]

Roger's method is interesting. I will have to investigate.].

I forgot to add the one of the reasons I do this:

Once transferred to TNG, it allows searching of the last name field to find a person by any of the variations by a simple search in the Last Name field. And all these variations are included in the sitemap file submitted to Google for indexing.

Roger

[eric.vanbeest]

Thank you for the input so far.

I have tried away from putting alternative spellings in the first name or last name NAME field because, well, it looks ugly to me. In some cases, there are several misspellings on both on civil documents so it really becomes a long list for some people. Hence why I used Alias/AKA. The only other item I add in the first name field is the nickname or calling name, in quotes. Yes, there is a field for nicknames, but it is not part of the standard field set in Reunion and in any case amongst the fact fields and not in the NAME pane.

To be clear, the name I use as first name and last name are the names used on the Death Certificate, unless there is a compelling reason not to; ie. obvious mistake on the certificate, noted in the memo field.

I note that when you Match & Merge a person with different spellings of their name, the 'other' name is saved temporarily in a Note field (a Match & Merge note). Unfortunately, this disappears after you quit or close the file.

[JMCWS]

doesn't work on my ancestry tree, but this does work for me on REUNION. I use the birth/baptismal name/spelling in a consistent manner for every generation where mis-spelling is the most common problem. There's always one version that's more commonly used, with very few exceptions (I have a 45 year old, 40,000 person data file/family tree). By the end of the 19th century when people *could* (and often *did*) choose a permanent variation, I will change the spelling for that branch of the family. When changes of name occur by adoption (step-father usually), then > is the symbol I use, in the name field. In the AKA field I enter all variation of a name, used throughout the lifetime of that person. So for a couple of generations I will have SHERMAN > FORD (this is in regard to a bigamous marriage, where different offspring of the bigamous relationship have used different surnames). However, the bigamous husband was illegitimately birth registered as COLLINS, so his (and only his) is shown as COLLINS>SHERMAN (aka FORD), because he reverted back to SHERMAN, but his bigamous wife kept the assumed name FORD. It doesn't really get much more complicated than that! The SKILLICORN to SKELLERN took many generations, the COWLAM to COWLEY affected two branches of a family, post mid 19th century. But for "searching the index" I want consistency until it's impracticable, and by then I "know" who's had a major change of name, and the alternatives to look for.

Assumed middle names go in brackets. Nick-names in quotation marks. Reversed first and middle names also use < >. Having my one rule of birth or baptism name works for me (and, of course, I copy and paste into notes... all the source documentation, and duly cite name variations by sources).

Three of my ancestors show up this way, due to name changes, where their descendants *all* have the same assumed surname; denoting their birth baptismal name, and the changes they made.
William > Robert ................ RICHARDSON > COLLINS
Henry Courtney ................... PATCH > COURTNEY
John (Cowlam) ..................... COWLAM > SMITH

and in the process of trying to prove
William ................................... DODD aka DOD(D)SWORTH
(he appears to have lived about 8 years in a different country with the variation, but it only affects his descendants as a middle name)

Now if only ancestry would let me use >>>>>>>>>>> I'd be happy, but I invented this long before I had online trees. (I just use a hyphen or aka, on ancestry)