Middle Initials - A hint for beginners

Question

While I'm sure experienced WikiTreers are aware of this, if you're a beginner you might not have noticed that oftentimes when a woman gets married she starts using her maiden name as her middle name.  In a document with just her middle initial, the researcher has to be aware of this and not assume that an initial the same as the first letter of her maiden name is of her actual birth middle name.  To use a personal example, when we got married we officially changed her middle name to her maiden name simply for her monogram to be MOD rather than MAD.

Comments

I have also noted a few instances of that.

Answer 1

I've seen this in the SSDI so many times and actually had a heated discussion with another findagrave member over it. (gave up since the person would not budge and insisted that the middle name was whatever the SSDI used.)

Comments

I find that attitude a lot on findagrave.com, not so much here at wonderful wikitree :)

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Yep, found my mom’s sscard with her maiden name as middle.