Name change from marriage to death .Is this unusual

[MOM OF TWO]

Please could someone offer some general advice. I have a marriage certificate  that gives marriage details of a couple the male has the same forenames and surnames throughout his life. The woman has three forenames then surname at marriage.
on the ladies death certificate there is the same forename, a different middle name and of course the married surname.


I have not been able to find  the birth details of this lady born circa 1924 and her death (1966) was of a sensitive nature.
There was a inquest therefore I assume that the coroner has registered the death. Could this be  the reason why the names are different ? I have left the details anonymously has there may be living relatives.

[jorose]

Presuming you have info that makes you certain that the marriage and death are definitely the same woman:

It could have been a mistake when the certificate was registered or she could have just decided to go by a different set of names sometime between her marriage and her death (legally there was absolutely nothing stopping her from deciding she didn't like being Mary Elizabeth Jane and would prefer to be called Mary Louisa).  Or she might have been born Mary Louisa Elizabeth Jane and just used various combinations throughout her life.

(My French lot are awful for this: names like Joseph Henri Louis Antoine, aka Louis Antoine aka Henri Louis aka Joseph Henry aka Joseph Louis Antoine aka something different on nearly every one of his kid's birth records)

If she had children from that marriage you could check to see how she is described on those certificates (a bit pricey, especially if this isn't your direct line!).  Or try looking for newspaper records relating to the inquest, if there are any.

[MOM OF TWO]

Thanks for the reply there were no children from this marriage and yes it was the same woman. I think I will re-visit the newspapers to see if the inquest was published. I did look in the local newspapers where the death took place I think I will have a look at the regional newspapers in case it is mentioned.

thank you

[Plummiegirl]

I have a g/g/uncle who was born "George Reginald Robert Jones" (fictitious name) in 1898, by the 1901 census he was now known as "George Smith" - Jones had been his fathers name but as his parents never married and by this time his mother was alone with George & his younger brother John, she had given them both her maiden name.

On the 1911 census he is now known as "Alfred George Smith" and this is the name under which he dies in 1918.  Lord alone knows where the "Alfred" name came from.

So name changes are not unusual.  And do not get us started on people who are born by 1 name and for the rest of their lives known by something completely different.

So 3 name changes

[Jeuel]

I've got lots of these, people are free to change their names and often do so.  I have an ordinary Annie who decides upon marriage to become Elizabeth Anne, a Rose who becomes Rosella, an Emily Kezia who drops her middle name when she marries.

This can be personal choice - or an error in the person giving/recording the information.

Had a worry when I got my husband's gt x 1 grandfather's birth cert.  According to his marriage cert, gt x 1's father was called Zalig.  But on the birth cert it says father is Solomon.  All was revealed when gt x 2 grandfather's death cert showed he was called Solomon Zalig Hart!

[Gardener]

Names mean nothing

My great-grandmother was christened Ellen, married as Ellen, appears on next census as Frances, and thereafter as Mary Adeliza Frances Ellen  No reason for it what so ever!