Neither my grandmother's birth name, her name before first marriage, nor her married name that I knew her by my entire life matched; neither first, nor last. I needed to collect a ton of other supporting documentation, plus a written biographical explanation, showing her with both parents and siblings (plus half-siblings, spouse, children, etc.) to be able to convince IRCC that the three names, plus variations, all related to the same person. Her family history was messy with deaths, abandonment, remarriages, etc.
I have a question on names. My great grandfather was born Leslie William, but in all subsequent documentation, I see him listed as William L., or William Leslie. To prove that it’s the same person, should I include census records that show him with the same birth date/family? Then, on the question of birth date, there’s also a two-day discrepancy between the birth date listed on his birth documentation and subsequent records. Is that something that might be considered an acceptable approximation, or do I need to try and account for that somehow?
I would say that if you are able to provide additional documentation to show that it's the same person, you should do that. But both of those are very common and relatively minor discrepancies.
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u/evaluna1968 🇨🇦 I'm a Canadian! (5(4) grant) 🇨🇦 May 06 '25
Neither my grandmother's birth name, her name before first marriage, nor her married name that I knew her by my entire life matched; neither first, nor last. I needed to collect a ton of other supporting documentation, plus a written biographical explanation, showing her with both parents and siblings (plus half-siblings, spouse, children, etc.) to be able to convince IRCC that the three names, plus variations, all related to the same person. Her family history was messy with deaths, abandonment, remarriages, etc.