Hello,

I have a question that I am sure is up here on the message board or somewhere on the website but I can't seem to find the answer! If someone could just point me in the right direction or help me, I would really appreciate it.

I have just started building my tree and am a little unsure as to how to write the names of women who are married. Should you leave their maiden name or write their married name? I would write nee but I can't seem to find where to write it on their profile.

A small silly question I know but I think this changes the whole tree!!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hello there and welcome to this fascinating hobby. :-)

The general idea is to enter the surname a person was born with as that avoids all ambiguity.

I hope that helps.

Christine

It does, thanks very much!

That's what I've done but how do I account for records in my mother's previous married name? She comes up multiple different ways and they don't tie together.

Thanks!

Always use the maiden name as the primary name. But use other names in documents as alternative names. That would include names used during or after marriages. The fact that there was more than one marriage doesn't matter. Every fact (an alternative name is a fact) gets a source. This is harder to do if your tree is on Ancestry but not hard if you're using a decent genealogy program or doing things by hand.

Of course also record all the marriages.

Cyndi