Do we have a template for Maiden name not certain?

Question

The reason I ask is because I adopted a profile where I suspect the maiden name is not correct but so far have not been able to prove it either way. I have sources which lead one to believe it is correct but they seem to stem mostly from family trees. Her maiden name is generally accepted. A published researcher of her maiden name states she is not from that line. I believe that adding a template which states Maiden name may not be correct would be better than making her maiden name Unknown. If we do not have a template to list maiden name unknown I would like to propose it now. Can we track templates? I know we can categories but am not sure about templates. If we can track them this would be a great way to single out people with Maiden names that need more research by people willing to put in the time to solve is it or is it not correct. I will continue to look either way but thought this to be a great solution to get everyone willing to participate involved.

Thanks,

Sharon

Answer 1

This one may work, but I don't think it is exactly what you want:

{{Uncertain Family}}

It creates a yellow banner, like the one for Unsourced, with the following wording:

This person may not belong in the family group. See the text for details.

This is the template page: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Uncertain_Family

Comments

Lucy, I appreciate your response! I have used {{Uncertain Family}} before and you are right, it isn't exactly what I think would work best in this particular situation. I even thought about just replacing the word family in the template with maiden name but since it has not officially been approved I thought it best to ask the question...lol  There are duplicate profiles for her on wikitree with one using the maiden name and one using Unknown. I think using maiden name uncertain would satisfy both people and assist in merging them all. Thanks for the reply!

Answer 2

Great question Sharon.  I can see the need for a template that would highlight that a surname is suspect.  I can think of more occasions where I would use it for a woman's surname but also for a man's surname - especially in my Swedish lines when the surnames changed from patrynomic to same-surname based names.  If you want to propose a new template you could write a new G2G post with the title "I suggest we create a surname not certain template."  I would suggest a post like that.  I'm not completely sure of the full implications of a template like this or if it is even possible but you won't know until you ask.

If you decide to seek the creation of a new template, be sure to link that post to this one.

Comments

I really like that idea! It never occured to me it would be useful for men as well. Hopefully they will like the proposal and will be able to implement it in the near future. Thank you for the suggestion!

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I just realized I'm not sure how to link my original post to the new one when I post it on G2G forum. Will you please tell me how to link them together? I was also wondering if this is the best category for the new post or should I put it under another category? Thanks.

Answer 3

There are "Needs LNAB" maintenance categories for the purpose of identifying profiles where the LNAB (maiden name) still needs to be determined or corrected.

Comments

Jan, thank you for letting me know about the "Needs LNAB", I'm happy to know we are actively looking into and correcting when possible Unknown or Uncertain last names. After looking at the names listed in the "Needs LNAB" I'm not sure an existing name at birth will be looked at by anyone. The people on the list seem to all be listed as Unknown or Uncertain at birth. If they are listed with a name at birth and there is a question later that the name may not be correct, how does it get put on the list other than changing the name to Unknown?

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Sharon,

I only know procedures in the Dutch Roots project. Usually we do have one or more candidates for the LNAB, not being "Unknown" or "Uncertain". After reaching consensus among the project members the name agreed on will become the LNAB and the "Needs LNAB" will be removed. So the goal is to clear that category, not to change names to "Unknown" or "Uncertain".