Where do I enter variant spellings found in public records?

Question

In Kunzman-27 I had listed several variant spellings found in public records in the Other Last Names field, and Data Docs questioned them as unique names. So I took the easy route and deleted them but left them in the Biography. How are variant (mis)spellings found in sources best addressed? This name was misspelled more often than not in public records.

Answer 1

Last Name variations should be entered into Other Last Names field.  When a Suggestion is shown for Unique Names, you should mark those as False Suggestions, IF the spelling is correctly entered for the variations.

First Name variations should be entered into Other Nicknames.  Suggestion should be updated the same.

The Suggestions about Unique Name occur when that is the 'only' profile using that spelling variation.  If the spelling is accurate for a spelling variation, then it is a False Suggestion.  Otherwise, the spelling should be corrected if it was actually entered incorrectly.

Adding the spelling variations in both fields 'hopefully' will eliminate some duplicate profiles from being created because those fields are used in Searches.

Answer 2

Other last names was the correct way. When the suggestion list comes out questioning them as unique names, it just wants to confirm they aren’t a spelling error. So you can mark them as false suggestion add a reason and save.

Answer 3

List variations of names, especially when an immigrant's name may be "Americanized" by phoentic spelling or error, in a ===Research Notes=== section with the name and the record it was found in there.  

This is a better way than in the bio as it gives the record and name for future research.  

WikiTree has a project that investigates other names which you might want to contact:

Help:Variant Names Project

The Other Names field is used for a name the person actually used, like another married name or birth/adopted name.