* Using a confirmation name instead of a birth name - advice/suggestions?

[steveflanuk]

I have an ancestor who's birth was registered with the name Thomas Colebridge. Following his Roman Catholic confirmation he then used his confirmation name of Thomas Christopher Colebridge in all subsequent documents I can find (including his BMD death entry, 1911 Census, his WW1 enlistment documents, etc)

My question is to which name should I record him under? I am thinking of 2 possibilities:

1. Record his birth name as his main name in FH, and add his confirmation name as an additional name, with a subsequent note to this stating that it was the name he used for the remainder of his life

2. Record his confirmation name as his main name in FH, as that was the one he used the most in official documents, and add his birth name as an additional name, with a subsequent note detailing the fact that he use his confirmation name

Many thanks in advance

[tatewise]

Option 1. is the most conventional, but 2. is not unreasonable.

You will of course have a Birth Event and the Birth Name with same Source Citation for Birth Certificate.

Also you will have a Confirmation Event and Confirmation Name with same Source Citation(s) for Confirmation document, etc.

[steveflanuk]

Mike

Many thanks for the speedy response as always. Think I need to sit down and work out how I want to do this. Yes I have both birth and confirmation events for him (along with quite a few others) with respective source citations, etc.

At present I'm leaning towards option 2, as I'm thinking that this would make things easier for me to conduct any future searches as his confirmation name would be the name that would show up (and highlighted) in any diagrams, queries, reports, etc I use.

[tatewise]

Perform some experiments, as I believe both will show up in most scenarios as the Primary name and an Also Known As name.

See how_to:handle_people_with_multiple_names|> How to Handle People With Multiple Names for some ideas.