Introduction

Sooner or later you will come across people known by different names at different times of their lives.
This can happen for many reasons including:

• Being Adopted
• Getting Married
• Changing their name by Deed Poll

With the exception of a woman taking her husbands name on marriage it is important to document the change of name and the time it occurred.

The GEDCOMGEDCOM, an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication, is a specification for exchanging genealogical data between different genealogy software. It is a file format that most genealogical programs and online trees recognise. standard does not provide attributesEvents are things that happened to an Individual and Attributes are things that described them. or events for that, but with Family Historian (ƒh) it is easy to add custom attributesUsers of Family Historian can customize fact definitions, or create their own fact definitions to more closely match they way they want to work. to contain the information. There is a Fact SetA Fact Set is a defined list of types of Facts – that is types of Events and Attributes. – Name Changes available in the Downloads for the items above.

What Name Where?

The normal convention for the “main” name for a person is the name they were born with. This is the name they will be listed under in the Records Window.

Some cases do not need second name records for example to provide a different “know as” name, e.g. someone who was baptised ‘Mary Margaret’, but is known as ‘Molly’ can be recorded by using the Nickname or Alternate Name fields. These are accessed from the Main tab of the Property BoxThe Property Box is the primary window for data entry and for viewing details of stored records.  It is used with records of all types.   Dialogue via the more(+)… link to the Names/Titles dialogue.

Where additional names are required, another way to enter them is to use the All tab on the Property Box Dialogue and right click to add another name.

Examples

Deed Poll

To document someone who has changed their name by deed poll the following is suggested.

1. Add a new Alternate Name to the person concerned with a SourceSource: “where information was found”. This could be anything from an archive in a county records office, a book, or even a relative’s recorded recollection. Citing your Sources helps to show how you reached a particular conclusion about an Individual. CitationA link between a source and a fact, documenting Where within the source you find information being “cited” to support the fact/conclusion. for the evidence of the name change.
2. Add a Deed Poll attribute, entering the new name as the value, with a Source Citation as above.

Birth Name

In some cases you may wish to use this where someone was adopted at birth and has always used their adopted name rather than their birth name.

1. Add a new Alternate Name to the person concerned with a Source Citation for the evidence of the name change.
2. Add a Birth Name attribute, entering the new name as the value, with a Source Citation as above.

Adopted Name

1. Add an Adoption Event, with a Source Citation for the evidence as normal.
2. Add a new Alternate Name to the person concerned with a Source Citation as above.
3. Add an Adopted Name attribute, entering the new name as the value, with a Source Citation as above.

Married Name

For use in cases where the Woman does not take on her Husband’s name or where a Husband takes on his Wife’s name.

1. Add a new Alternate Name to the person concerned with a Source Citation for the evidence of the name change.
2. Add a Married Name attribute, entering the new name as the value, with a Source Citation as above.

Unofficial Names

For people who used different names for example entertainers.

1. Add a new Alternate Name to the person concerned with a Source Citation for the evidence of the name change.
2. Add a custom event for change of name plus any details, with a Source Citation as above.

Display Options

By default the Alternate Names are sometimes not very visible, but they can easily be displayed. Now ƒh V6 has better defaults for Diagrams and Reports, and includes Alternate Names in Records Window searches.

In the Names/Titles dialogue mentioned above, there is a Make Primary button to swap any chosen Alternate Name with the Primary Name. Then that chosen name appears wherever the Individual appears.

Customise Property Box

1. Use Menu > Customize Data Entry option for Main tab, and untick Show most commonly-used items only.
2. Select and add the <Custom Item> (for advanced users..) choosing the Main area for Individual.
3. Enter Custom Item Name: as say Name (2) and tick Part 1.
4. Enter Label: as say Name (2) again and Data Reference: as INDI.NAME[2] then click OK.
5. Move the Name (2) item up under Name item using the black arrows, then click OK.
6. Repeat for Name (3) and INDI.NAME[3], et seq.

Adjust AKA Names Plugin

The Adjust AKA Names for Reports PluginPlugins are small programs that allow new features to be added without upgrading Family Historian itself; some plugins are written by Calico Pie and others are written by users. has two modes of use:

• Add/remove all Alternate Names to/from the Primary Name.
• Create an AKA (Also Known As) custom fact that holds all names, and appears in the FactsFacts are one of the key concepts at the heart of Family Historian; they are how you record the things that happened to, or described, each ancestor (Individual). tab and in Reports.