Need advice how to resolve 774 Wrong word in Last Name at Birth Help (Difficulty: Intermediate)

Question

Wikitree identity is Hamman_or_Hammond-4 for multiple profiles. Can the profiles be changed without creating new profiles and merging?

Comments

Good news is the PM of that profile is active, so maybe they can help getting them identified.  That PM has had messages left on profile, private messages sent, but doesn't seem to change the profile names, unfortunately.  There are almost 30 profiles in their watchlist with that Suggestion on them and many had already had a comment of some sort added to the Suggestion, indicating that they were contacted.  Part of the problem can also be, have sources been found for one or the other version of the name.

The PM may not understand that one name should be in the LNAB and other variations can be in the Current Last Name or Other Last Names field.

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There are also quite a few private profiles that are siblings to that profile, so there could be even more that we don't see the suggestion for.

Answer 1

Hi Wayne. The 774 suggestion will be objecting to the word "or".

One name, with the best birth sources, should be chosen for Last Name at Birth and Current Last Name (unless there is a different married name or other name change). The other surname can then go in the field Other Last Name(s).

Only the profile manager or someone else on the Trusted List can change the Last Name at Birth. But a new profile is not required.

Comments

Any change to a Last Name at Birth does effectively create a new profile, because it changes the WikiTree id.  However it won't change anything in the biography or in the other fields.

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Right John, and technically the LNAB change does involve a merge behind the scenes. But the important thing is that Wayne doesn't need to create any new profile or do a merge manually.