Family Historian User Group

I have a female born as "Mary JONES' but later entered religious orders and became Sister Bernadette and Died and buried under her "nun "name -
Is she stored as Mary JONES or SR Bernadette or do we assign her religious name as "nick name"

Hi
I think "nick name" is rather disrespectful but there is the option to enter "Also known as" by the name. She needs to keep the name she was born with as that is who she was. Then she was "known as" in her later life.
Ann

I agree that nickname is the wrong choice, I would enter Sister Bernadette as an Alternative Name. I believe people should be recorded by their birth name then if the name changes that becomes an Alternative Name, I reserve Known As for such as "John George X" always appearing as "George X".

Hope that helps.

I would also tend to add a Fact (possibly under occupation) to say that she became a Nun and took on the name of Sister Bernadette. That way anyone reviewing your information can see exactly when the name changed.

An alternative Fact to Occupation might be Title where Sister Bernadette can be explicitly entered.
See how_to:handle_people_with_multiple_names|> How to Handle People With Multiple Names for further ideas.