2024 #52Ancestors, Week 9: Name Changes

Name changes and/or creative name manipulation are the bane of a genealogist's existence.  I (like many others, I'm sure) have been stymied and frustrated by ancestors' decisions to suddenly use their middles names as their first names, change their surnames to something unrecognizable, or (in the case of one of my relatives) enact a complete name change with no legal documentation.  Below, I will detail some of the more frustrating experiences I've had with name changes.

Pearsons

The Pearson surname has been Pearson for as far back as I've been able to track them, but they tended to play fast and loose with their first names.  In particular, my great grandfather's generation seemed to take great delight in using first and middle names interchangeably.  My great grandpa Ben is a prime example.  Grandpa Ben's legal name was Daniel Benton Pearson, but the 1900 census lists him as Benjamin D. Pearson.  The 1910 census lists him as Daniel B.  His marriage to my great grandmother is recorded in the Swedish American Church Records; there, he is Benton Daniel Pearson.  Great Grandpa Ben's brother, Peyton Eric, went by Eric for most of his life.  Early on, this made searching for his records quite difficult.  

Ben and Eric's half-sister also made my life difficult.  The first document I found indicating her existence was the 1900 census.  She was listed as Rosa Pearson.  I have also found what I believe is a register of her birth where she is recorded as Rosella Pearson. She married not long after the 1900 census, and her daughter's 1903 birth certificate lists the mother as Mary Rose Hughes.  In the 1910 census, she was Rosy Hughes, but in the 1920 census, she was Mary R. Hughes.  The Illinois Death Index lists her as Rose Mary Hughes.  

These, of course, are trivial issues compared to the story of one Pierson McClure (whose mother was Nettie Pearson).  Pierson spent the first 8 years of his life using that name, but in 1923, he was baptized Joseph Marion Miller (presumably in a nod to Nettie's current husband, Walter Miller).  According to everything else I have found concerning Joseph's life, he never used the name Pierson again. 

Hugo Robertson

Hugo Robertson was my great great grandfather. He emigrated from Sweden in 1887 and his emigration record indicates his name was Carl Hugo Robert Jonsson.  Now, I know it's not odd for names to change during the immigration process, but here's the unusual part (for me, at least).  Hugo's twin sister, Anna Elvira Augusta Jonsson also emigrated, but she did not change her surname.  She seems to have arrived in America shortly after Carl...Hugo...whatever his name was, and her 1906 marriage to Charles Blomberg shows her maiden name was Jonsson.  Charles and Anna Elvira were my Great Grandma Thelma's sponsors at her baptism, so it's not like the siblings didn't see each other regularly.  Why didn't they get on the same page about their surnames?  Other than church records, it seems my great great grandfather also dropped Carl entirely.  The 1900 and 1910 censuses and his 1911 death certificate all list him as Hugo Robertson.

Palermos and Aloisios

On the other side of my family, the Sicilians kept their surnames, but they tended to go by more Americanized first names. Mariano Aloisio became Mario (although that still sounds pretty Sicilian to me).  Mariano's wife, Serafina, came to be known as Sophie.  Mario and Sophie's daughter, Carmela, went by Nell, and her brother Rosario was referred to as Bud.  For the Palermos, Great Grandpa Francisco Antonio Palermo, the fruit dealer, switched to the Americanized 'Frank,' and his uncle Giuseppe chose to go by Joseph.  Many of Frank's children did the same.  Paola became Pauline, Antonino became Tony, and my Grandpa Martin's name was actually Matteo.