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This is Generations Cafe with your host, Amy Johnson Crow. In genealogy and family history, we deal with a lot of names, and it can be confusing when an ancestor changes their name, or I should say, when that ancestor uses a name that we aren't quite expecting. Let's talk about how we can sort it all out. We sometimes have the idea that our ancestors always used their proper name. But names can actually be very fluid. The name a person uses can actually vary depending upon the situation. Take one of my friends, for example. To his family and close friends, he's Johnny. To his co workers, he's John. But his real first name, that is the name on his birth certificate is actually Charles. John is his middle name. How he appears in a record depends upon the situation. It can also depend upon who's creating the record. What name do they know him by? The same thing happened with our ancestors. Sometimes using a different name out in the community could be a matter of necessity. Think about the families where each branch of the family named one of the sons after the grandfather. All of a sudden you have a bunch of first cousins running around that all have the same first name. Going by a nickname or middle name helps to sort everyone out. In some cultures, it's actually not unusual for a family to give all of the sons in a family the same first name. But then in the community, they go by their middle name. So many Johannes. How do we sort it all out? Fortunately for us as family historians, our our ancestors were more than just names. They had relationships, occupations, and religious affiliations. They lived in a certain place and they lived for a certain span of time. And we can use all of that information and more to help sort things out. Let's take a look at a real example. I was researching a man named James Marshman. I found a James B. Marshman in the 1900 census in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Based on other research, I'm confident that's the correct person. I also found a death certificate for a Bernie Marshman who died in 1915 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Is this the same person? Is Bernie Marshman the same as James B. Marshman? I have three choices. I can ignore that death certificate because the name is so different. I could accept that death certificate because James apparently had the middle initial of B. Or I can do a little bit more digging and see if I can figure out what's what. I think I'll take door number three. Let's take another look at that 1900 census for James B. Marshman. He's living in Donegal township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. He's listed as 58 years old and born in Pennsylvania in April 1842. His occupation is blacksmith. He's living with his wife Maria and children Harry, James, Ray, Etta and Robert. Now, let's take a look at that Bernie Marshman death certificate again. He died in Donegal Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. According to his death certificate, he was born April 2, 1842 in Pennsylvania. His occupation is listed as blacksmith. He's widowed. So unfortunately we don't have his wife's name on this death certificate. But the informant is Ms. Etta Marshman. Remember, James B. Marshman had a daughter named etta in the 1900 census. So far, so good. The death certificate says that he was buried in Claysville Cemetery. Let's take a quick look at find a grave and see if we can find anything over there. This memorial is titled James Burney Marshman, but there are no sources anywhere in this memorial to documenting that middle name. But let's take a look at what we do have on this memorial, which is a photo of the tombstone. The tombstone reads James B. Marshman and has a birth date of April 2, 1842 that matches the 1900 census and the death certificate. The tombstone also has a death date of March 2, 1915 that matches the date of death on the Bernie Marshman death certificate. Of course, all of these records lead to other research possibilities, including obituaries, church records, maybe even a Civil War pension file based upon that tombstone. We could also research other Marshmen buried in Claysville Cemetery. Even without that additional research, when we go beyond the names in these records, we we can sort this all out when we take all of the information from that James Marshman 1900 census and compare it to all of the information on The Bernie Marshman 1915 death certificate and then look at the tombstone in Claysville cemetery. I'm convinced that that death certificate and that census record refer to the same person. Being able to spot clues in records and follow up on them will really help your genealogy research. In the show notes, you'll be able to see the documents that I'm talking about. You can find the show notes over@amyjohnsoncrow.com 72. Well, that's it for this episode of Generations Cafe. I hope that in the coming days you go out and make more discoveries about your family history. I'm Amy Johnson Crow, and I'll see you here next time at Generations Cafe.