Hi, yes I am wondering if I've been reading more into this that might be the case. Sophia had children with both Henry and James but its curious that she reverted to using Henry's surname almost immediately James had died, and while her children with James were still living with her. There's probably nothing in it but it just fascinates me.
Thanks.
I have ancestor who had an alias -- thougt it might be to do with his convict history. After 40 years of thinking so, newly released records enabled me to determine that his widowed mother remarried to a man with the alias surname when he was young. So he had his birth name but was also known by his step-dad's surname.
I had a twice widowed ancestor who reverted to her first husband's surname because she had no children with the second man and i guess it stopped her having to explain her relationship to her children constantly.
We all assume aliases imply something sinister but basically all it means is that you are known by a different name. Lots of married women these days use both their married surname and their maiden names at various times -- not to mention the ordinary mispronunciations and misrecordings every day such as by shop assistants etc
We must remember too that amongst the people with the greatest number of aliases are the royal family and nobility -- only for them it is dignified by being called titles and not just aliases.
Regards
pH
It all boils down to one simple legal fact a person's name (in England) is the name they use.
It make no difference whether their parents had a different name or if they married or even if they had changed their name by deed pole etc., if they use another name that other name is their legal name.
Cheers
Guy
