On 10 Dec 2009 at 13:32, John ATTRILL wrote: > Thanks are being sent by me to those of the List who answered the call > for data source of name changes which apparently does not exist > anyway. I have no intention of changing surname - just wanted to know > about the likelihood of an ancestor who we believe has changed > surnames along the line, being traced through another source. > What you say is not entirely true. I pointed out in my message to the list that records of surname changes by deed poll are held at TNA at Kew. However, if an ancestor simply decided to change his/her name and call him/herself something else without making any formal record of it, then I don't see how you could expect there to be a source. If you mean there is no overall database of people who've changed their names, then that is true, but how could there be if the great majority of name changes were never notified to anyone? I have, though, on occasions found people in censuses and other records whom it is possible to identify as having undergone a name change by comparing their details and circumstances with those in earlier records. I have, for instance, looked into the ancestry of a very famous media personality who had a gt-gt-grandfather apparently from the IoW and who married in a totally different name to the one he subsequently had children in and appeared in censuses in. Why this should have been I haven't established for certain, but I suspect there was something slightly "dodgy" about him! How nice and convenient it would be if there were such a thing as a database of everyone who had changed their names, but genealogy is rarely that simple. It usually involves a lot of detective work to get at the truth. -- Roy Stockdill Professional genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE