Changed surname - any standard/convention on how to record/show this?

[kathpak]

Is there a standard way of showing on a family tree/in a GEDCOM file that an ancestor changed his name during his lifetime?  eg John SMITH changes his name to John BROWN - should he be recorded as SMITH or BROWN (or both? eg "SMITH -> BROWN")?

[percy porter]

I run TMG and there is facility on that for including "changed names" ie by deedpoll or such other means I assumed that most if not all genealogical programs had the same facility.!

Alan NZ

[mongoose2]

normally you would enter the Birth or Babtism name then include a note to the effect that the person was known as.
In England you do not need to effect a change of name by deed poll however it is against the law to change your name for nefarious purposes.

to get back to FH programs if any children took the new name you may have to amend the name manually as most FH programs default to the parents name.

Barry

[kathpak]

Thanks to you both! 

Prompted by the first response that it was a standard feature of most programs, I had another look at the GEDCOM 5.5 standard.  All I could find was:
"NAME {NAME}: =
... More than one NAME line should be used for people who were known by multiple names."

Do genealogy packages cope with or offer more than one NAME line, when importing a GEDCOM?  I imagine you could use a catch-all EVEN event to record the details of how and when the change occurred.

[Just Kia]

I use FTM2009 and in that, as with FTM2008, you can enter an alternate name for someone and then select the preferred name (probably the one they were know by most commonly), or you can enter an AKA for them.

I have both for my grandfather. I have his birth name Jules Jeffrey DEVOS, then his adopted name Edward REDSULL (set as preferred as he was known by this name) and then his commonly used name Ted as an AKA to his adopted name

[Roobarb]

I have an ancestor who changed his name by deed poll. I use FTM and I entered his name then 'later changed to ...' all in the surname space. The system told me that there was an error but I just clicked 'Ignore' and it let me leave it like that.