Perhaps you can use a variation of what I did.

I have a number of relatives who go (or went) by their middle names rather than their first names, but I would not really classify their middle names as "nicknames." For example, my grandfather James Claude Green always went by his middle name Claude. I created a new fact called "Name preference," with the associated sentence for reports reading "<He/she> was generally known by <his/her> middle name <value>" -- the value in this case being "Claude."

I usually put a sort date in of the day after the individual's date of birth, so that in automatically generated reports the name preference comes immediately after the report of the person's birth.

-- Mel

Thanks Allan, after some time away from the board I just came back to read your advice. I did just as you said & it worked great.

-- Mel

Okay, I asked this question just the other day on the old board, & as I hadn't checked that board since, I don't know if anyone answered it:

In my database I have a woman who was twice-widowed who, after her second husband's death, adopted a child by herself. I.e., this child had only her for a parent -- neither of the husband's were around to be a father.

How can I indicate the adoption event without giving the child two adoptive parents?

Thanks in advance for any help.

-- Mel