Current Last Names for Multiple Marriage Persons

Question

I realize that there is already some protocol for the current last name of females.  I am not 100% sure what that is, to be clear, but I assume that only the last name at death is used.

As the spouse of someone whose female line made careers out of wedlock, this is very frustrating.

Could there be a rule that if a woman marries more than once that all of her married last names in order of marriage be listed in the "Current Last Name" field?

The profile below is just one of many where the lady in question has all of her children with her first husband, but that last name is relegated to "aka" status.  In this specific case, she only married twice.  I don't think having both married names in the field in marital order is a big deal on this one.  Sadly, there are others who married up to 5 times with children only issued from the first 2 marriages.

Can tech created a "other married last names" field that would populate before the "Current Last Name" and after the middle name field?  At least it would be easier to see connections that way and to put multiple married names in order.  

Maybe "Current Last Name" should also be called "Last Name at Death"?  I don't know.  I'm just spitballing ideas here.

Answer 1

There is already a field for Other Last Names.  And if there were many, you separate them with a comma, like this - Smith, Jones, Turner.

Comments

This current solution is my problem.  The look of the commas is incorrect. It turns legal last names into "AKA", which has a criminal flavor in addition to sounding like the names were discarded or fictitious in origin, like a legend or a nickname. Imagine the confusion if this person had a nickname as well.  I want a field that captures legal name appendages.

Here is what you would get for someone who was born Mary Smith and married a Jones, a Johnson, and a Scott, in that order:

Mary (Smith) Scott, "aka" Jones, Johnson.

This does not look like a person who was previously married.  It looks like a person who does bank jobs and changed identities for evading the law.

This is what I want to see:

Mary (Smith) Jones Johnson Scott

While it would alphabetize by Scott, it would place the previous last names in a readily understandable format.  Also, it could be searchable by the other last names.

  I can't see why the techies can't find a solution to this conundrum.

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Such as "Jones Johnson Scott" makes it look like one continuous no-hyphens hyphenated surname.  Just saying.

I happen to think the look as currently is is ok.  If the aka is the problem, then reword that, but my great-grand was not a Williamson after she remarried, so retaining that name as part of her name is just wrong.

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All that "AKA" means is "also known as".  There is nothing criminal about it .  In fact, it is only Americans who insist on having every single name a person ever had as part of their name, as if it were double-barrelled or even triple-barrelled.

It's only been used by the police since the 1950s.  It is a very common (not criminal) phraseology that has been used since time immemorial by ordinary people.

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Well I guess being raised in the Southern US is showing here, we have used "aka" on our wanted posters since before our Civil War in the 1860s.  Be that as it is, it is in common use now in law enforcement circles in the Western Hemisphere, and wherever you live, which only accents my issue with its use.  This can only become more bizarre as the years move forward into the future and the younger generations, like my children, only understand the reference as a bullet point on criminal activity dispatches.

On the next point, I stopped to notice the wording on Rebeckah's profile as follows:

Rebeckah "Rebecca" Leeds formerly Tilton aka Applegate

I noticed the use of "formerly" there for her maiden name.  If we added an "Other Married Names" field just above the "Current Last Name"/ "Preferred Last Name", and had these names attached to the use of "formerly" , that would work for me.  For the maiden name, if that field is not using "formerly"  with regularity, maybe we can use "born", or the old time fancy "née".

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"Other Last Names" is "Other Married Names".  And 'formerly' is restricted to a person's maiden name or LNAB.  The 'aka' in this case is set by the system, and would probably be a very low priority if you suggested it as an improvement.

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As Ros says, "formerly" applies to the last name recorded at birth aka "maiden surname' - but it also applies to males as well as females.
Née is not "old time", it is in current use.  It is also the feminine form.  For males it would be né, so using née would be incorrect.

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I agree with you. I have a male in our tree that was a circus performer. Over his lifetime I have recorded that he was known by 5 different names. He used different given and surnames, which also transcended to the naming of his children. So "also known as" is literally correct for him. Unfortunately WT can't really handle these many variations so I just listed them all in the bio.

Answer 2

Really like these ideas!
It would be nice to see (at the top of profile) her "full" name.  Especially, if her maiden name is the same as one of her married names.

Recommend adding tags "improvements"

WikiTreeTech -   As suggested above:
Add: "all married last names"
Change: "Current Last Name" to "Last Name at Death"

"Last Name Used" or "Preferred Last Name"

Comments

Hi BB and A. For the last point...what if the person is still alive?

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Jim - How about changing it to "Last Name Used" Or "Preferred Last Name"?

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Preferred Last Name works for me.

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If that's the case, I want the record to show my "Preferred Last Name" is Jingleheimer Schmidt.

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Hey, that's my name, too!

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"All married last names" only works for the women and occasional men who changed their surname after marrying. People have changed their surnames for many other reasons -- adoption, by official fiat or personal choice to fit into the country they've immigrated to, distancing themselves from other family, etc.