What is the correct name to use when the person legally changed their name?

Question

Some brothers in my family had their last name legally changed. Which name should I use on my family tree?

Answer 1

c- both of the above.  You must have the birth name to connect to parents. You need the later legal name to connect to later documents.

John Doe aka Joe Smith (your base records, which always contain source of info, would include note "born as, name changed 1992")

Answer 2

The birth name. About half of your ancestors changed their names legally. They were women. (Some of the most recent ones may not have changed their names, but when you get back to the 1930's and before, they almost all did.)

Paige Turner marries Don Breaks at age 18 and becomes Paige Breaks, a name she uses for 70 years untli she and Don are killed while walking across Niagra Falls on a tight rope. It hapens all the time. You would record her as Paige Turner on your family tree, though.

Any decent genealogy program will have an "AKA" fact - "Also Known As". You use it for Clark / Clarke, Peterson / Petersen, Jablonski / Jacobs and for legal name changes such as your brothers'.

If you are making a big poster, put the birth name and follow it with the new one in parenthesis:

Malcomb Tunafishy ("Michael Fisher")