Women's History Month 2024: Name Variations Revisited

Photo by Gena Philibert-Ortega

What was her name?

That may seem like a stupid question, but I want you to really consider your ancestor's name.

Was her name the very popular Elizabeth? Or was it Liz, Beth, Betty or some other variation? If she married, her name would most likely change. She went by Elizabeth Smith, and then her marriage made her Elizabeth Reynolds or Mrs. G.K. Reynolds.

What was her name?

Don't get into the rut of assuming her name was always just Elizabeth. That's when you miss mentions of her life in records.

Create a list of her name variations. Consider all variations incorporating initials (both her and her husband's), middle names, and her husband's name variations. Your list might look something like this:

Elizabeth Grace Smith        Elizabeth Grace Reynolds

Elizabeth G. Smith              Elizabeth G. Reynolds

E. Grace Smith                    Mrs. G.K. Reynolds

Liz Smith                            Mrs. George K. Reynolds

E.G. Smith                          Mrs. Liz Reynolds            

Miss Smith

Now, add all the possible misspellings to that list. Not sure what those could be? A child or even a teenager might be a good person to ask. They will sound it out and guess the spelling.

Why is all of this important? Your ancestor's name is not spelled or indexed correctly in every record. And they or the person providing their name may not have referred to them with the same name as you are typing in that search engine.

Keep this list near your research and use it every time you search. Don't risk not finding something important because you were searching the wrong version of her name.

Source:

Women's History Month 2016: Tip #6 Name Variations