A field for alternative spelling(s) of last name would be useful.

Question

Other than a note in the biography section there isn't a good way to show that a person's name was spelt differently at various times. Current case I am dealing with involves variants that include Wesle, Wesley, and Westley. All are clearly the same person(s).  It would be useful to be able to log the variants in the actual profile so they would show up properly in searches.

Comments

Hello Mark.

See here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Name_Fields#Other_Last_Names

Answer 1

But you can, when putting in LNAB, current last name, then there is other names. Here you can add a number of names they have used/appear in the records

Comments

Great minds Ruben, share the star with me.

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Yes, you are correct, but that seems like a less than satisfactory solution to me because it doesn't make a distinction between different spellings and actual separate names.

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For all alternative spellings of a surname, they can be entered into the Other Last Names box - so that they show up on the profile as AKA names. If a person used several different spellings in various records then we need to provide a record of those names.

If any children were given a different spelling from the parents, then the childs surname must be listed as spelled on the record - usually the birth certificate. And again any other spellings or names used by that child, are to be entered into the Other Names box.

The Current Name box usually has the spelling that was used at the time they died.