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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: LizzieL on Wednesday 24 February 21 09:37 GMT (UK)
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Sorry if this has been asked before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything.
I have two people (and their subsequent families) who definitely changed surname as records exist and a third forwhom there is more circumstantial evidence. How can I show these people on my Ancestry tree with both surnames, so that the "Common Ancestor " algorithm will find them.? I have put "xxxx or yyyy" in surname box but fear that will only match with people who also use the same sequence of names and won't even pick up "yyyy or xxxx" variants. Ther seems to be a box somewhere for alternative parents I have seen on other peoples trees, Is there a box for alternative surname?
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Sorry if this has been asked before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything.
I have two people (and their subsequent families) who definitely changed surname as records exist and a third forwhom there is more circumstantial evidence. How can I show these people on my Ancestry tree with both surnames, so that the "Common Ancestor " algorithm will find them.? I have put "xxxx or yyyy" in surname box but fear that will only match with people who also use the same sequence of names and won't even pick up "yyyy or xxxx" variants. Ther seems to be a box somewhere for alternative parents I have seen on other peoples trees, Is there a box for alternative surname?
A parallel query is for tips on showing both families of an adopted person. Nowadays adoption has lost some of the former stigma and people can be proud of their attachment to both families. See popularity of ITV "Long Lost Family"
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Sorry if this has been asked before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything.
I have two people (and their subsequent families) who definitely changed surname as records exist and a third forwhom there is more circumstantial evidence. How can I show these people on my Ancestry tree with both surnames, so that the "Common Ancestor " algorithm will find them.? I have put "xxxx or yyyy" in surname box but fear that will only match with people who also use the same sequence of names and won't even pick up "yyyy or xxxx" variants. Ther seems to be a box somewhere for alternative parents I have seen on other peoples trees, Is there a box for alternative surname?
Have you asked Ancestry? Presumably they would be in the best position to know how their algorithms work and the optimal way of ensuring all your info is picked up?
Pheno
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Hi lizzie
Don't know if this will help but if you go to edit it has a edit relationship and you can add alternative and adopted etc sandie
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Hi lizzie
Don't know if this will help but if you go to edit it has a edit relationship and you can add alternative and adopted etc sandie
Thanks I looked at that, but it would only give me the ability to add an additional parent. In this case I want to ad an additional surname for these individuals. In one case two brothers (and maybe some of their other siblings) added a new surname and treated their original surname as another forename. Their descendants only used the new surname. In the other case the head of family used his grandfather's original surname and his grandfather's stepfather's surname interchangeably. No logic to it. His children also swopped between the two names.
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Have you asked Ancestry? Presumably they would be in the best position to know how their algorithms work and the optimal way of ensuring all your info is picked up?
Pheno
I've sent a message, but they usually take so long to reply, if they ever do, I thought I'd ask here in the mean time.
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I spoke to soon too soon, reply from Ancestry
Answer, go to add fact and put it into the 'Also known as' box. Just tried it for one of them and now my own tree doesn't even come up when I search for her, but I do get an unrelated Sarah with a different surname again who married the brother of my Sarah's husband in same place two years later. So I think Ancestry's suggestion has been a resounding failure just on a simple search, so no chance of the two names being treated as interchangeable on Thrulines/ Common Ancestors
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You can add a "Name" record, but it looks like only the "Preferred" name (there's a tick box) will show in searches.
One of the many reasons I still use software offline.
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You can add a "Name" record, but it looks like only the "Preferred" name (there's a tick box) will show in searches.
One of the many reasons I still use software offline.
My detailled tree is and always has been on offline software
However without a searchable tree on Ancestry I could not get the Common Ancestors / Thrulines suggestions for connections with my DNA matches.
I have experimented with various methods for showing two surnames. Using the suggestion from Ancestry (using birth name, and the name she used later as alternative), my own tree doesn't even come up on a search!
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Hi, Lizzie
Either:
In the Tree view, click on the person in your tree.
Then in the pop-up that appears, select Quick Edit.
Or:
In the Profile view, click on Edit.
In the Edit box that pops up for either of the above, type his alternative name in the Suffix box. Then click Save. It is best practice to type his alternative name in full. For example many of my family used alternative names when their own was banned. For John McGregor I input the whole of this, including brackets: (aka John Graeme). His name shows in his profile as John McGregor (aka John Graeme) and a search of either name will find him.
Hope this helps. :)
Peter
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Thank you, that's one method I haven't tried. I'll give it a go!
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Yes Peter, that’s how I have done it. I have also had success with just adding the additional name in brackets after the known name. Searches will bring up possibles for both names.
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Not quite sure if my way of doing works or not, here's my example...
I have Sarah Cullen born illegitimate with those names but she used the name Sarah Gunn (Gunn being her father's surname not on BC) i.e. I have her in my tree as...
Sarah Gunn / Cullen
The thing with ancestry is, if you add their records to your 'person' this is what gives the 'hint' scenario to others i.e. should be picked up by anyone who has that person on their tree with either name?
You could use the 'Suffix' option & type in '(Name Change)'
Annie
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It's a shame that quite a bit of genealogy software fails to deal with name changes and name variants. Ancestry seem to believe that a different name must always be a temporary aberration. In their world, no women adopt a fresh surname on marriage, for example. Come to think of it, my granny had similar thinking. The woman who had been her bridesmaid was always "Doris Woods", ignoring the 50+ years she had been married to Joe Holmes.
I have found the surname of my paternal ggg gf written in 8 different ways, none of which matches mine. Ancestry can't cope with this. Only one of the 8 can be located in a search. Even though some of the others appear in their records, it wouldn't offer them as a likely match unless that particular variant was ticked as "preferred".
Things are much easier in the software I use offline. Each of those variant spellings is recorded, with dates against them. I can find him by looking under any of those names. As I enter a marriage, it offers to set up a Married Name too, with the same date.