I always enter females with the Maiden Surname - the correct way to identify females throughout their life. There are occasions, particularly with large trees where their maiden name doesn't instantly spring to mind - you may have their Given Name and Married Name but not be sure of their husband's name. This is even more of a problem when you are helping other people with their tree and of course the family relationships aren't that familiar to you.
I wish it was as easy to find females in the default Index list as it is to find males. i.e. sort order SURNAME, Given Names, Birth year
There are two ways this could easily be achieved in RootsMagic:
- Show female's married names in this list as well as their maiden names - similar to AKAs / Alternate names OR
- Split Surnames and Given Names so the list can be sorted by Given name (not as ideal as Option 1)
I know there are many other ways of finding these females and I generally select SEARCH / NAMEFIND but why should I have to use these extra steps when I don't have to do that to find Males?
With a large database there could be many females with the Given Name of Mary - but if you could see the Given Name in conjunction with their Married Surname it would be so much easier to select the right person.