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Depending on the "military guy" being in WW2, a polish name would be a death sentence so many changed their names to something less obvious. That could be why he changed his name before he got married.
Thanks for posting. I never knew why some have 2 obvious last names like that. I wondered if that was the case but thought it was mother with father last. I won't ever need the info for my relatives but it's good to know.
What's crazy is in Hungary, women get known by a female version of their husband's first name. My fathers mother divorced his father, she's buried with the female version of his first name. Crazy. I added her first name as her nickname because it wouldn't be what's on the headstone.
I actually learned this working retail and doing money wire transfers, many to Mexico and Latin America. I was reminded recently while watching one of the genealogy TV shows.
Depending on the "military guy" being in WW2, a polish name would be a death sentence so many changed their names to something less obvious. That could be why he changed his name before he got married.
I want to say 1947 is when the name change happened.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BoSox 15
Apologies in advance if this has already been posted. I did a cursory search but didn't find my quesiton.
How do you account for a name change on a family tree on either the Ancestry or the Family Search websites?
I am currently doing an Ancestry free trial and came across a previously unseen record. It was my great grandfather's draft card (at 41 years of age). It has given me confirmation an issue that has stumped me for quite a while.
I knew he had an alias and as an immigrant who couldn't write I've seen references to both names but this is the first time I've seen the names together. I am 100% certain this is his record (matching the spouse and the address with the 1920 census). The draft card lists "Manuel Menize Cordeiro" and why its important is because my family currently goes by the middle name and I've only seen one other document with the Cordeiro surname.
Anyhow, to my question - both sites only give you the opportunity to enter first name, last name and nowhere to put an alias (unless I'm missing something). My concern is I don't want to miss out on potential hits or clues if one name was used as opposed to the other, if that makes sense.
Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I'm just trying to organize this in the way that makes the most sense.
Thanks in advance.
In Ancestry I put both names in the first name field so that they are both being searched. For example, my uncle Lieb Geller who became Louis in the US, I put in Louis Lieb for the first name and Geller for the last name. This way I get clues for both. I have a great uncle Samuel who for some reason became George later in life, so the first name name field says Samuel George.
I also do a custom field to put in the other names the person used or to put in an explanation like "Samuel went by George as an adult." or "Lieb was named for his great-uncle Lieb. He went by Louis in the US." I don't use the AKA field because you cannot put a date on it, so it falls to the bottom of the list of facts.
When I use a custom field you can put a title such as "Alternate Names" and then the birth date so under Facts it shows up right underneath his birth. My ancestors are almost all Jewish so nearly everyone has a religious name as well as a secular name. And people are usually named for an ancestor, so I use this custom field a lot.
I actually have relatives who went to Mexico from Russia. Mendel, for example, became Manuel. Both of those names go in the first name field. Also each of his parents' last names go in the last name field, since most Mexican records have both.
My family came over in the early 1800s. In a school then, the teachers taught the students to spell their names the way they sounded. In researching our family tree, one surname goes back to one boy out of one family because he was taught by a teacher to spell his name wrong. You can't blame the teacher because the family was illiterate. The other side of my blood line was Americanized. So it can be a mess.
Yes it, can. Spellngs of immigrants' names are especially problematic because
1. Many immigrants, for instance Russians, spoke languages that use a different alphabet. Even if they had been told or had figured out how to spell their names in the Roman alphabet, there were different possible ways to do that. Should it be Evgeniy or Evgeny or Yevgeniy..or ??? Members of the same family could easily end up with surnames that were spelled differently in the US.
2. As you mentioned, some immigrants were illiterate and just told their name to whoever processed their immigration papers; that person just wrote down whatever they thought they heard, and figured it was good enough.
My grandmother, whose parents were German immigrants, reported that when her older brother started school, the teacher told him he was saying his last name wrong. Her English pronunciation of that name didn't match his German pronunciation. So the whole family switched to the English pronunciation, because in those days (1890s), especially if you were an immigrant who didn't speak English that well, you did not tell a teacher she was wrong. And you did not want to stand out.
Thank you all for the tips! I realize these are rudimentary questions but I'm trying to get up to speed on how it all works!
Quote:
Originally Posted by saibot
Yes it, can. Spellngs of immigrants' names are especially problematic because
You're telling me! My family name has been recorded as Cordeiro, Moniz, Manz and the most recent name I came across was Marshall. My ancestors did not make this easy for me.
As a random side note, I just today learned about A-Files, so I'm hoping that this uncovers some of the questions I have!
Thank you all for the tips! I realize these are rudimentary questions but I'm trying to get up to speed on how it all works!
You're telling me! My family name has been recorded as Cordeiro, Moniz, Manz and the most recent name I came across was Marshall. My ancestors did not make this easy for me.
As a random side note, I just today learned about A-Files, so I'm hoping that this uncovers some of the questions I have!
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