Things are obviously different in Canada, but I remember applications, such as passport applications always asking if you use any aliases, what were they and for how long they had been in use. There used to be a law (I believe) where if you used an assumed name (without intent of fraud) for more than two years, you were allowed to adopt it as your own. I don't know what procedures, if any, would have been necessary at that point. On 29 December 2012 15:14, Dave Liesse <Dave@skingcoservicesllc.com> wrote: > Whether or not his name was changed legally, it seems to me it is > everyone else's legal name. Presumably his wife went through the normal > processes when they got married; there is no law that I know of that > requires a wife to adopt his name, her maiden name, or any other name -- > if she changed hers to his new name, then that's her legal name. Same > for the kids; that's the name that was given to them when they were > born, and again I don't know of any law that absolutely requires their > name to be the same as their parents' (it's certainly a nice > convenience, though!). > > Dave Liesse > Skingco Services, LLC > > > On 12/29/2012 10:14, Michele Lewis wrote: > > One of my uncles was quite a rogue in his youth. He got mad at my > > grandparents back in the late 70s so he changed his surname to one he > made > > up. It isn't a real surname. It sounds like an American Indian name and > > very romantic sounding but is isn't a legitimate surname :) He also > > changed his first name though that wasn't a dramatic change and people > who > > knew his given name would have just thought it was a shortened nickname. > He > > later turned his life around, got married, went to college and became a > > teacher. His wife took the same last name. Apparently when they got > > married he didn't have to actually prove that was his legal name. They > had > > one daughter and her birth certificate has this same name on it. This > > daughter got married and her husband took HER surname (I can't blame him. > > It is really a cool name). My uncle ended up writing two nationally > > published middle school textbooks under his assumed name. It is funny > to me > > when I see his books on Amazon! > > > > Here is the interesting part. None of the extended family had no idea he > > had done any of this. Everyone would see him at reunions and such and > they > > had no clue he had been living under a totally different name for over 40 > > years! No one had a clue that his wife and child were living under this > same > > new name. Everyone thought their last name was the uncle's birth > surname. > > Guess how everyone figured it out. Facebook. My uncle is not on > Facebook > > but his daughter is. Myself and the other genealogists in the family > > routinely comb Facebook for possible kin. The daughter has an older half > > brother (from my uncle's first marriage) that has the correct surname. > The > > daughter has an unusual first name so when I was looking at the list of > > friends for my cousin (the older half brother) I saw a girl with this > > unusual first name but with this cool Indian sounding last name. I knew > it > > was my cousin but I wrongly assumed she had married someone with that > cool > > last name and that is how she ended up with it. When I went to her page > I > > saw her mother (my uncle's wife) with that same last name so then I > realized > > something was wrong. > > > > That is when I tracked down the birth certificate for the daughter > (Texas > > is very generous with their records) and it shows my uncle and his wife > with > > this unusual last name. When I went to the daughter's friend page, I > found > > her husband and then looked at his page. Both of his parents were listed > > (and they had been married forever) and they had a different last name > so he > > had dropped his ordinary last name and took his wife's cool name. > > > > I called my other uncle (the oldest of the siblings) and asked him about > it. > > That is when he related the story to me and told me that no one in the > > family knew any of this, including my own father (2nd oldest child and > just > > older than the man in question). I thought the whole thing was > absolutely > > fascinating. > > > > Believe it or not, there is a question in all of this. When my uncle got > > married, he gave a false name. His wife took that false name as her own > (I > > assume she knew it was false considering all of his siblings had a > different > > last name and his parents had only been married to each other). Their > child > > is also named this false name. LEGALLY, what does it all mean? Is the > > wife's legal name really the false name or is it my uncle's real last > name? > > What about the child? > > > > Michele > > > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >