change of name

jsphillips · Post by **jsphillips** » 09 Jan 2013 14:51

I have a Frederick Saddle Brown
who changed his name to Just Frederick Saddle. Bearing in mind he was born and registered as F S Brown but in Census and in death he was Frderick Saddle ...How do I record both names in FH please ??

ID:6688

PeterR · Post by **PeterR** » 09 Jan 2013 15:24

Entering change name in the Search box quickly found the following in the Knowledge Base:

How to Handle People With Multiple Names

jsphillips · Post by **jsphillips** » 10 Jan 2013 11:43

Thanks
that covers some items.
I have a woman surname ( Pav)who had 3 children by 3 unnamed fathers.
One father was a Mr 'x' Milne
father 2 unknown but child toook mothers surname
father 3 unknown (but different from above father) also took mothers surname
How can I show these.
I have adopted the following solution which is not very good
Father 1 named as X Milne child named Anthony Milne
Father 2 names as X X child as Jack Pav
Father 3 names as Z Z child as Stephanie Pav
showing as 3 separate fathers and children branches on diagram
Is there another way by showing all 3 to the mother but showing 3 differnt fathers ??
Thanks

Post by **tatewise** » 10 Jan 2013 12:14

Yes, in the mother (PAV) Property Box use the Spouse: tabs halfway down the Main tab.

Click a blank tab in turn and use Add Spouse/Partner for each father via Link Existing Record.
Then choose Make mother PAV the wife in one of the listed families before clicking OK.

The children will be added one per tab, showing they share the same mother, but three different fathers.

On each tab, under Status select Never Married so that Reports will NOT say they were married.

Select the mother as root and most Diagrams will display all the fathers and children.

This is essentially the same technique as for multiple Marriages, except for the Never Married Status.

jsphillips · Post by **jsphillips** » 10 Jan 2013 16:54

Thanks that is exactly as I had already done it.
I did not know the format for putting in the unknopwn spouse
I used X (forename) x Surname
and for others I used Y (forename) y surname etc.
rather than just having unknown everywhere and to distinguish each one...or is there another solution ??
Thanks again

johnmorrisoniom · Post by **johnmorrisoniom** » 10 Jan 2013 17:05

Another way (The way I do it), is to click on a blank spouse tab, but do not add another spouse, just click on the add child link. Then repeat for the next child.
This will show that the children have different fathers without having to invent a name for them.

Post by **tatewise** » 11 Jan 2013 10:36

John's method is neat if you have absolutely no information about the father at all.
It avoids having an Individual Record with an invented Name and no Facts, which may have issues when checking for Living persons, or missing Birth details, etc.
If you already have such a father, and want the format, then simply delete the Individual Record for the father.

I am not aware of any established conventions for recording unknown Names.
Whatever method you use, the main advice is to be consistent.
It is quite common to leave the unknown part blank, or use a question mark ? perhaps in square brackets [?].
Another technique is to use the Name of a relation, but in square brackets.
Thus a wife with unknown maiden surname would use her husbands /[Surname]/.
Your unknown fathers could be named [Jack] /[Pav]/ and [Stephanie] /[Pav]/, where the square brackets show it is not their own name, whilst clearly identifying their relation.
Alternatively, suffix each such relation's Name with a question mark, e.g. Jack? /Pav?/.
This has the advantage that when sorted into Surname order those with an unknown Name appear close to their relatives.

One thing fascinates me. You said

father 2 unknown but child toook mothers surname
father 3 unknown (but different from above father)

If these fathers are totally unknown, how do you know they are different?

jsphillips · Post by **jsphillips** » 11 Jan 2013 14:29

Thanks all of you for you great help

Johnyeates · Post by **Johnyeates** » 12 Jan 2013 21:02

Something I have been doing is to create a first name for the unknown Husband/partner and leave the surname blank as follows:-

Husband-E-Hine // which equates to the husband or partner of Elizabeth Hine, Husband could changed to partner.

I also record multiple husbands as follows:-
Husband1-E-Hine //
Husband2-E-Hine //

I do a similar thing for unknown Wives

Maybe I should leave them blank as suggested

Post by **tatewise** » 13 Jan 2013 10:33

It does not matter much what strategy you use, although preferably it should be consistent.

A variant of your method would be to use something like:

Husband /Hine, E?/
Wife1 /Yeates, J?/
Wife2 /Yeates, J?/

then when the Record Window is sorted by Surname the spouses are listed close together.

Alternatively, Husband or Wife could be inserted in the Name Prefix or Name Suffix field, or omitted altogether, because their relationship is shown by the GEDCOM Family links.

Johnyeates · Post by **Johnyeates** » 13 Jan 2013 12:08

Yes, I like your version.
I think I developed mine as I thought it might be useful to have the unknowns grouped together. What I have found useful is to have the spouses name attached as per both versions.

davidm_uk · Post by **davidm_uk** » 13 Jan 2013 15:41

I frequently find that from a census return I have the wife's forename but not her maiden name. In this case I enter her as (for example):

Florence /Hodges(WIFE)/

where Hodges is the married surname. This way in lists that are alphabetic by surname she appears next to her husband.

As said before, the important thing is to be consistent.

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