Alternative Surnames

rfj1001 · Post by **rfj1001** » 29 Jan 2006 12:02

I've got one particular surname that is spelt in a variety of ways. eg Within the space of a 5 year period one person's surname (as several others) has been spelt Glendinning, Glendenning and Glendining.

I'm OK on getting the surnames into FH at a basic level (ie name/alt name) but keep changing my mind on what I should record as the primary surname.

Glendinning is by far the most popular of the spellings so there is a logic in doing that for search purposes - and everyone gets their name spelt that way at some time in their life.

A more purist approach would be to record the first spelling.

Any thoughts and also the optimum way to record in FH?

TIA

Robin

ID:1313

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 29 Jan 2006 17:26

For some reason my names seldom, get mispelt, I tend to use the one I see first for the person, you can always use the :SOUNDEX extension in Queries to group the names together.

TimT · Post by **TimT** » 30 Jan 2006 17:48

I have this problem with my Thorp(e) family. As primary name, i have tended to go for what is on the birth certificate, if that exists.

In a related area of naming, for the first time I have encountered a child born a month or two before the marriage and subsequently the child used the married name of the mother. In this case it seems a bit precious to use the mother's maiden name as the primary name for the child.

I am sure the following has been discussed before but can't find it: In FH can you have more than one alternative name?

tim

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 30 Jan 2006 18:39

You can have as many name records as you need, third and subesquent ones need to be entered on the All tab or direct in the records window.

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