A couple of questions about social security numbers and SS-5 forms: - I have a California death certificate that reports a social security number with an "A" appended to the end of the number For example: "000-00-0000A." I think the "A" might mean "amended." Can anyone confirm this? - The SS-5 associated with this number is for a different male name than appears on the death certificate. For example, the death certificate says "John Q. Public" and the SS-5 says "Norman Z. Private." Yes, the names are that different, but I know this man used both names in his life. - However, searching for this social security number returns the name on the death certificate ("John Q. Public") rather than the name that appears on the SS-5 ("Norman Z. Private"). I am guessing that a) either this man filed two different SS-5 applications, or at some time during his life or at death, the SSA records were corrected. Yet, when I requested the SS-5 from the SSA, I received only the one record with the conflicting name. What do you think? Thanks. J. H. ("Jay") Fonkert, CG View my speaking calendar at: _http://www.genealogicalspeakersguild.org/calendar_view.php_ (http://www.genealogicalspeakersguild.org/calendar_view.php) _http://www.fourgenerationsgenealogy.wordpress.com_ (http://www.fourgenerationsgenealogy.wordpress.com/) _http://fourgenerationsgenealogy.blogspot.com/_ (http://fourgenerationsgenealogy.blogspot.com/) Saint Paul, MN Director, Association of Professional Genealogists professional profile at _www.apgen.org_ (http://www.apgen.org)/) *"CG" & "Certified Genealogist" are service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, and are used by authorized associates following periodic, peer-reviewed competency evaluations. Certificate No. 965, issued 11 May 2012, expires 11 May 2017.

I have received answers to this question on the APG-Members list. In short, we think the "A" refers to a formerly employed SocSec claimant. A spouse or widow making a claim on the employee's account would be "B." In this case, the appended "A" appears on a death certificate, not a SSA document. Our theory is that the informant for the death certificate (in this case a daughter of the deceased) used a SSA document with the "A" to report the social security number for creation of the death certificate. -----Original Message----- From: JFonkert <JFonkert@aol.com> To: transitional-genealogists-forum <transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thu, Nov 29, 2012 7:17 pm Subject: [TGF] social security numbers A couple of questions about social security numbers and SS-5 forms: - I have a California death certificate that reports a social security number with an "A" appended to the end of the number For example: "000-00-0000A." I think the "A" might mean "amended." Can anyone confirm this? - The SS-5 associated with this number is for a different male name than appears on the death certificate. For example, the death certificate says "John Q. Public" and the SS-5 says "Norman Z. Private." Yes, the names are that different, but I know this man used both names in his life. - However, searching for this social security number returns the name on the death certificate ("John Q. Public") rather than the name that appears on the SS-5 ("Norman Z. Private"). I am guessing that a) either this man filed two different SS-5 applications, or at some time during his life or at death, the SSA records were corrected. Yet, when I requested the SS-5 from the SSA, I received only the one record with the conflicting name. What do you think? Thanks. J. H. ("Jay") Fonkert, CG View my speaking calendar at: _http://www.genealogicalspeakersguild.org/calendar_view.php_ (http://www.genealogicalspeakersguild.org/calendar_view.php) _http://www.fourgenerationsgenealogy.wordpress.com_ (http://www.fourgenerationsgenealogy.wordpress.com/) _http://fourgenerationsgenealogy.blogspot.com/_ (http://fourgenerationsgenealogy.blogspot.com/) Saint Paul, MN Director, Association of Professional Genealogists professional profile at _www.apgen.org_ (http://www.apgen.org)/) *"CG" & "Certified Genealogist" are service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, and are used by authorized associates following periodic, peer-reviewed competency evaluations. Certificate No. 965, issued 11 May 2012, expires 11 May 2017. 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

On 11/29/2012 4:42 PM, JFonkert@aol.com wrote: > A couple of questions about social security numbers and SS-5 forms: > > > - I have a California death certificate that reports a social security > number with an "A" appended to the end of the number For example: > "000-00-0000A." I think the "A" might mean "amended." Can anyone confirm this? It's a Medicare number. Depends on whether you have Medicare A or Medicare B. I have A, and my Medicare number is my SSN with an A after it. > > > - The SS-5 associated with this number is for a different male name than > appears on the death certificate. For example, the death certificate says > "John Q. Public" and the SS-5 says "Norman Z. Private." Yes, the names are > that different, but I know this man used both names in his life. > > > - However, searching for this social security number returns the name on > the death certificate ("John Q. Public") rather than the name that appears > on the SS-5 ("Norman Z. Private"). > > > I am guessing that a) either this man filed two different SS-5 > applications, or at some time during his life or at death, the SSA records were > corrected. Yet, when I requested the SS-5 from the SSA, I received only the one > record with the conflicting name. > > > What do you think? > > I really don't have an opinion about that, having never encountered it before. Karen Packard Rhodes currently residing in Pinellas Park, Pinellas County, Florida