And here's another slant: After recording about a thousand Acadian names like Françoise, Étienne, and Jean-Baptiste, I find that a majority of people don't use diacriticals either in their databases or in searches, so my work is largely invisible online. Since the main use for the data is to post at RootsWeb and I want it to be found, I've added the version sans diacriticals as Alternate Names. They're not true aka's, and the alternates might look very strange in some narrative reports (which I never produce anyway), but it does emphasize the importance of knowing where you're going early on and deciding whether that field is strictly for bonafide aka's or catch-all alternate spellings.
Kirsten -----Original Message----- From: k...@legacyfamilytree.com [mailto:k...@legacyfamilytree.com]on Behalf Of Jim Walton Sent: Saturday, October 03, 2009 4:56 PM To: LegacyUserGroup@legacyfamilytree.com Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Changing surname My grandfather's name was Irvin, but he is often referred to as Irving. He never used that name, yet if someone is searching for "Irving" they will not find him unless I add Irving as an AKA. So I would suggest that the AKA should be used, even if the person never used the name. I have a note on my grandfather's record that his name is Irvin and Irving is a disproven name so that perhaps someone will find my record and correct theirs accordingly. Jim On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 8:05 AM, Jan Roberts <poo...@ozemail.com.au> wrote: > But I would only use the alternative name as an AKA if there is evidence > that an individual actually used both variations, or was recorded in > different documents with both variations. My late first husband’s > grandmother was always Georgina DANIELS (until her marriage), but other > branches of the family use the name DANIEL. As she never used DANIEL and I > have never seen her documented as DANIEL I do not use DANIEL as an AKA for > her. > > > > Cheers > > Jan Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
