If you can’t find your relative in a database, consider switching the first and last names. These kinds of errors are not all that unusual, particularly with individuals with non-English names.

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2 Responses

  1. This still happens now. Frequently my hotel reservations are held under my given name. Once I listened as a motel employee told a caller that they had no reservation for her even though she had the correct address. I suggested that he ask her first name. It was one that could be reversed and, yes, they had the reservation under the given name.

  2. Many of my relatives switched back and forth between first name & middle name from one census to the next. Sometimes a child was named after a parent and he/she was called by their middle name until that parent passes away or the child leaves home. Perhaps they liked one of the names more than the other.

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