5 replies to this topic

[heirtrackers@gmail.com]

Since people could be adopted, or have their names legally changed, like for adoptees or gender reassignment people, their birth name and maybe surname and gender will be different from birth then either current or death. How are we handling this? For instance, I am a 4x cancer survivor so I legally changed my name, (not due to marriage or divorce) to my new first name, Breya, meaning miracle. My mother legally changed her whole name. My youngest son, I changed his whole name after the adoption went through.

 

And although I don't anyone personally, some people switch genders after being born, so is there a way to put birth first name, birth last name, birth gender, and then for current or death first name, last name and gender? Otherwise, its going to be a nighmare years from now.

 

Also, will RootsMagic search on variable last names? I had a relative that during WWI, his last name was spelled one way, WWII another, land records one way, and his will spelled it three different ways.

 

Last but not least, can we sort on say year of birth, year of death, or location?

 

Sorry I'm new.

 

Thank you

[Trebor22]

As far as name changes go there is an option to add alternate names - from Edit Person view select 'Add Fact' and then 'Alternate Name'

[zhangrau]

As far as name changes go there is an option to add alternate names - from Edit Person view select 'Add Fact' and then 'Alternate Name'

 

This is true, and I use the Alternate Name fact extensively to document whatever variations I find in records. Unfortunately, the drop down menu with several choices of Name Type is effectively useless, since there is no method provided to access this info with the sentence template language. A researcher _could_ customize every Alternate Name fact sentence, but that's not going to transfer properly via GEDCOM, is it?

[JimDavis79]

Breya, i'm reacting more to the "sorry, i'm new" than the substance of your question.  It is indeed an excellent question for which i'm looking forward to reading more answers.  I haven't seen it posed before in this way.

 

For the name issue, I'm wondering about adding a custom fact type -- might that help?

 

For the gender issue, one could add another birth date and explain in notes.  or, a "gender change" custom fact might work.

[Renee Zamora]

You can personally decide what name you want as a person's primary name. Then add alternate name facts. You can control there placement adding the sort date after the birth fact if you want the alternate name to be the birth name. If you keep the birth name primary then add alternate names after adoption facts.

 

For gender changes you would have to decide if using the Genetic Markers is important for you. If you change their sex setting it will not give accurate results if you use those features in RootsMagic. I am leaning more to keeping their sex as they were born.

 

You could use create a new fact, like Medical Note or use the default Miscellaneous fact to record their sex change operation. Place the alternate name fact as you wish it to appear. 

 

You can search on spelling variation using Search>Person List>NameFind and check "Allow close matches". I think a better option is to add an alternate name fact and then display them in the sidebar, People view and RM Explorer to locate them by that name. Just check the box to include alternate names. If you don't see the checkbox look for an option button in the list.  For surnames that have various spellings I make sure that everyone has a primary spelling, either as their primary name or alternate name. That way I know I can search them with one spelling. 

 

To sort on the birth or death date or location use the People View. Click on the column header and it will sort in chronological or alphabetical order for that fact.

[TomH]

The sex or gender change question is not handled by RootsMagic because it allows only one, undated sex property per person. It drives the pronouns (he/she, his/her) in the sentence template language for narrative reports and probably some other things. You have to choose male/female/unknown. If "unknown" the sentence variable puts out "he/she" or "his/her". That might be acceptable to some to reflect the person's duality. Others might find it tedious. You could customise each fact sentence by writing in the pronoun appropriate to that time in the person's life.