When I help people I always tell them that in genealogy women are always their father's daughters and never their husband's wives. One is never to enter a woman's married name in their database only the maiden name(s). Adding the married name, in my book, is a "modernity" no no! Luis Beal Paulo Gomes Jardim <darwin@spamcop.net> wrote: I once used to include the archaic versions (Affon�os, Hyeronimos, Yoams) of the names on the AKA field too, but with the time that proved to be quite contraproducive and useless, as it would increase greately the pool of names everytime I do a "brute force" search on the name list. Now I don't care much about the spelling of the given names, and always update them to their current versions. I still keep on the notes field the way the surname was spelled, as it helps to trace it's evolution throught the time. Another thing I do is discard any "AKAs" which are obvious mistakes made by the priests when writing the records, and only leave a note about that on the notes field. As for the name that stays on the program as "main name", I always choose the most complete version. If anyone was known at some point as "D. Ana Isabel do Carvalhal Atouguia da Costa Bettencourt de Esmeraldo e Castelo Branco", that's the way she stays, even if the marriage record names her simply as "Ana Bettencourt". That way I can easily spot her among the many other "Anas de Bettencourt". The only exception is for the modern (and disgusting, IMO) habit of assigning the husband name to the wife after the marriage. I'm very sorry, but these "modernities" don't enter my database. ;) Paulo Paulo On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 11:25:12 -0800 (PST), Luis Beal wrote: > I leave Jardim as the last name mainly because at the time I started > researching the program I used did not allow for > long or double surnames. But another thing I do is I always add > significant variations of the name to my program > personal notes. The way I find the name spelled out on the marriage > record is the way it stays on my program, and any > other records if it is switched I add it to my notes like I said, or you > can add it to the "also known as" area. > Luis Beal -- " Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turres." -- Horacio ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com