Family Historian User Group

The struggle continues.

While inputting data I have discovered that a baby named Eliza in the 1851 census, whose birth is confirmed as such in FreeBMD, is named Ellen in all subsequent census and certificates. There was only one birth.

Is it possible to give this child a Record ID using Eliza for birth and 1851 census and Ellen for all subsequent events? This appears to be what actually happened but can FH5 handle it? There was only ever one person. The human brain can deal with the situation with ease but a computer would probably regard it as illogical and not cooperate.

I would be glad to see your comments.

ID:6419

There is Knowledge Base topic How to Handle People With Multiple Names that gives some advice.

Note that each Individual Record has a Primary Name and as many Alternate Names as you like, as well as Nicknames, etc.

The most common convention is to record the Birth Name as the Primary Name, and other names, such as those used on Census Returns, which may be Nicknames, are added as Alternate Names via the more (+)... link against the Name field in the Property Box.

The various Names would be supported by Citations to the Source Records for each supporting document. Ancestral Sources can help with this for Census data (and also Baptism and Marriage).

Now back on seat post Olympics.
Thanks Tatewise for your clarification. On the same subject, if a person changes his or her name by deed poll (I have one such) so that the new name becomes the lawful name, I assume that FH5 would treat this in the same way?

Yes, use the same technique.

The Deed Poll case is specifically mentioned in the is Knowledge Base topic How to Handle People With Multiple Names advice.

Sorry a little off-topic... But that's interesting @Tatewise, I had not seen that entry in the knowledge base before.  I have two adoptions quite close to me in my family tree and have always assumed that their adopted name should be used as their primary name.  I can see why using the birth name is good to provide consistency, and also I suppose that the evidence relating to the birth name is more likely to be in the public domain.

Would you happen to know if that's a general principle of genealogy, or a convention 'adopted' by FH?

Thanks for your time, -Ed

I believe the use of Birth Name as the Primary Name is a fairly common convention in genealogy software.

However, when keeping manual genealogical records other conventions may be used.
See for example Record Your Progress by Kimberly Powell.

What is more important is to add a Source Citation for each Alternate Name so you know its derivation.
Was the name on the Birth Certificate or a Marriage Certificate or a Census Return?

It is also useful to understand how FH uses Names in Diagrams and Reports so you can identify the Individuals conveniently.
FH does support a great deal of customisation in this respect, but sometimes you may need to use other methods such as the FH V5 Plugin Adjust AKA Names for Reports.

Thank you very much for the advise @tatewise, and for the link to the plugin.  I will start playing making some adjustments.