To add and remove alternate names in your Ancestry tree, go to the person’s profile page in your family tree. Click on the Facts tab, then select + Add in the Facts column. In the drop-down menu, enter their name and choose “Also Known As”. At the top of the Facts column, click Filter and select Alternate Facts. Both primary and alternate facts will be listed, with the alternate facts labeled as “Alternate”.
To add an unrelated person to your family tree, add them as any relative of someone already in your tree. After adding them, disconnect all of their relationships. Ancestry. com allows users to correct or add alternate information to many of their database records, adding the addition or correction to the Index but retaining the original indexed information.
In the Other Information field, you can add alternate names and identify the type of name. The options are “Also Known As”, Birth Name, Married Name, and Nickname. Each tree editor has chosen to use the basic name fields to record variants or alternate names.
Add new parents by clicking the plus button next to “Choose Alternate Father” or “Choose Alternate Mother”. The default setting is “Biological”. When using FamilySearch, Ancestry. com, RootsMagic, Legacy Family Tree, or paper records, you have one line for the name of your ancestor.
You can assign alternate names to anyone in your Ancestry tree. Searching for hints or records will take alternate names into account. Go to the person’s profile page in your family tree, click on the Facts tab, select + Add in the Facts column, and choose Also Known As in the Description field.
After adding married names, nicknames, aliases, and other variations to Family Tree from the person page or first ancestor view, go to the profile page of one of the parents and click Edit (top-right) > Edit Relationships > and change their information.
| Article | Description | Site |
|---|---|---|
| Ancestry.com – Best practices to add alternate names | When you are in the user’s profile do Add > Fact >Name and put in the alternate. It does give you a warning if the last name doesn’t match the … | reddit.com |
| Alternate Information in Family Trees | In the profile of someone in your tree, click the Facts tab. · At the top of the Facts column, click Filter and select Alternate Facts. | support.ancestry.com |
| Editing Names, Birthdates, and Living Statuses in a Tree | From a family tree, click on a person’s name. · In the menu that appears, select Quick edit (or in the app, Edit person). · Edit a fact and choose Save. | support.ancestry.com |
📹 How to Add Alternate Names on Ancestry.com
Learn how to add and remove alternate names in the ancestors profile on Ancestry. This video was inspired by a viewer question.
📹 How to Handle Name Changes in Your Family Tree Ancestry
Do you have an ancestor who changed his name when he immigrated to this country or maybe he was hiding from the law?
Helpful. I always struggle trying to remember how to do this. It’s also great that you pointed out the reasons the alternate name rather than aka is a better approach when it comes to records. I have German ancestors whose surname changed with the ownership of a farm, others who changed spellings over time. The record searches often hit on the variations, but not always. Thanks for this practical info!
One limitation of the alternate name in Ancestry is that it does not seem to be searchable within your own tree (using the “Find in Tree” button). Since I have an extensive tree, this search capability would be very useful. My immigrant ancestors have multiple names and name changes. To be able to find relatives in my own tree, I am forced to list multiple first and last names in the name field. It’s ugly and messy and goes against genealogical standards, but it’s the only way I can find my people within my own tree.
If I could have one genealogical wish come true, it would be a tour of all the great castles of Europe. If I got a second wish, it would be instant knowledge of why records are data fields, not profile pages to be prettied up. Just the data. The extra characters make finding matches so much more difficult for all users.
My Grandmother at birth last name is Melnikoff but she never went by that name since her father divorced her mother as a young age, When her mom remarried, she used the last name of her step father Achter. Should I still use Melnikoff as he preferred name even though it’s only on birth record? Or should I make Achter the preferred name, since that’s what she used before she got married later on? Thank you
I wish that genealogy industry standards were updated to include a fact called “maiden surname” or “birth surname”. And that it was distinct from any other surnames. Side note: The audio visualization widget is a bit distracting. Maybe you’re using it to watermark your articles in addition to your banner? Personally I’d prefer not to see it. But if you do still need to use it, maybe smaller and in the corner with the banner?
I have someone who was born out of wedlock in one name (I have the cert and baptism), he appears in one census as a 2 yer old and vanishes but seems to be replaced by another male, same age, same place of birth and same mother in the next census. The ‘replacement’ has no birth record or baptism and to further muddy the waters he signs up to the army then subsequently changes his name and is known as such for the rest of his life. His army pension records make no reference to the name from the birth cert but note both the latter names and which is the alias. I really don’t know what name to use and what to add where but he is the grandfather of my highest mystery dna match. I feel this match is crucial to resolving the NPE issues I have with my mother (the group of matches in the name changing family contains 60 matches as high as 275cM and I have no idea how I match any of them).
Ancestry won’t let me manually add a different surname to the Father’s surname for females. Not very useful when I have come against someone with a number of alias names, that have appeared on documents. Also difficult for adoptions. The only way is to import the name with a document, which it does allow.