Daniel S, There really wasn't "official" historically. We all struggle with this.
The name at baptism is a given name only. And then what to do if it's a woman and she's Maria Roza and after her 3rd child (with a difficult labor) she prays to the Holy Spirit and is Maria do Espirito Santo for her next 3 kids. She's known by 2 names. And how about Jose da Silva. His uncle is Jose da Silva. His nephew is Jose da Silva, as well as his cousin. He decides to pay tribute to that maternal grandmother and becomes Jose da Silva Costa so he's not mixed up with his other Jose relatives. If I am able to find a consensus, I use that name. If she was Maria Roza at marriage and Maria do Espirito Santo every time after that, then I record her as Maria do Espirito Santo and make a note on my marriage event that she married as Maria Roza. But what if she's Maria Roza 3 times, Maria do Espirito Santo 3 times, and Maria da Gloria 3 times? No consensus. So I write Maria Roza/do Espirito Santo/da Gloria as her name. In each event I put which name I found her under. Now that may not be a good solution from a programming perspective, since the slashes are used in programming the Gedcoms. And then my Jose da Silva or da Silva Costa example. I record him as Jose da Silva Costa as it seems that he was finalizing his name. But I record where I find him as Jose da Silva. I'm using modern spellings almost everywhere. That one is also hard. I carry the archaic spelling of Mello. So I spell that one with 2 Ls. But if I find da Sylva, I write da Silva. But suppose I have a cousin who carries the archaic spelling of da Sylva. Do I change that name? What about some of those butchered names from Hawaii and it is now the legal spelling. It is definitely a problem for those of us who immigrated with a different spelling. Cheri Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada On Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 7:54 AM, Daniel Silvia <[email protected]> wrote: > Over the course of a subject's life, his or her given name and/or surname > could appear in may different ways with many different spellings. Is there > a standard for selecting the individual's 'official' name? Is it typically > the name off the birth certificate, regardless of common usage later in > life? > > -- > For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the > right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my > membership." > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Azores Genealogy" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. > -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
