Widows Remarrying?

Maiden name should always show Maiden name.

I think it's safest to always keep a "married" name OUT of the field and put the surname she was born with in both last name fields. This keeps out any confusion.

Honestly it has happened in the trees with situations such as this:
John Smith and Mary Smith are brother and sister.
John Smith married Mary Anderson. Mary Smith married John Anderson.
Now John Smith's wife has been listed as Mary Smith. And John Anderson's wife has been listed as Mary Anderson. Both Mary's get merged by someone with a quick but not so keen eye...and you have a nasty mess to try and detangle.

Here's a guide to names to help you:
http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Naming_Conventions

Barry,

I'm just going to expand on what I've seen based in Colonial America.

1. Maiden name should always be maiden name as Jonathan says.

2. Unfortunately in the wills that are the primary source for many of my ancestors, the maiden name is not known, but the previous marriage is. For example and just making up names here:

James Butler's relic was the widow Hynes.

Meaning: her parents are not referenced, her previous marriage is, and her next marriage is.

So the problem is, if you have "unknown" in both the maiden name and married name fields, you'll never be able to identify her, and frankly, geni can get confused - in other ways than the confusion Mimi demonstrated. :)

So I tend to use both (known) married names in the last name field and leave the maiden name field blank in that situation.

In the case above
John Smith maried Mary Anderson, She is Mary Anderson (Smith)
and John Anderson married Mary Smith, Mary is Mary Smith (Anderson)

and that is why you NEED to put the maiden name and the married name in the place provided, it makes all the difenence in the world.. and the computer search engine can tell them apart and knows if it's a maiden name or a married name. That's why the form has both.

Sorry it's vice versa

Also your own settings can be adjusted to show maiden name only, so the traditional pedigree display methods are easily met.

Marvin Caulk, (C) I disagree about married name, because in Europe (and many other cultures in history and now) many people did not have married names, some only had names that defined who they descended from "Petersdottir" or didn't have a surname at all such as Joan of [Insert a City, Country, Castle, Dynasty or a Clan]. Taking on your spouse's last name is something more common nowadays than it was 200 years ago.

And still, in most countries, nowadays (outside of the western world and most English speaking countries), people are still practicing using the names they were born with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Married_and_maiden_names

It took me a long while to agree to not use "maiden and married" names here on Geni.com. I preferred using them for aesthetic reasons, search engine reasons, etc. However, I have also noticed that it leads Geni to hot-matches that are not the same person. Once I remove the supposed-married name out, then the hot-match count goes down, as well as potential erroneous merges.

PS...see even in describing, you got "vice versa"...it truly does make it difficult.

Eeek! This discussion again...

People, can't we just agree to put the square pegs in the square holes and the round pegs in the round holes? If the woman went by her maiden name, then maiden name it should be. If the woman went by a married name, that that should be the name. If there is more than one married name, to me it makes sense to use the last married name, unless she divorced and reverted by the end of her life.

Patronymic last names and Appelidos that never changed throughout life shouldn't be changed by us. Women that went by their married name shouldn't be forced to live through eternity by their maiden name. It seems pretty simple a "convention", even if it isn't supported by a cluster of European researchers. And it's going to be pretty easy to tell which is which from the surviving documentation... except of course where it has been changed by a researcher following a square-peg-round-hole convention.

It's enough to drive you nuts... unfollowing before my blood pressure goes up...

I of course am only speaking of the US practice of the women taking on the mans name, and I was married in germany and my wifes name was automaticly changed to my name both in German and US records. Of course these rules don't apply to Norway or Sweden or The 4th century BC. You're trying to make one rule apply to ALL countries when in fact they change country by county, century by century. So what I said DOES apply to the anglo-aglo saxon custom of the women taking on the mans name, therfore she has a maiden and married name that is very usefull in Genealogy. Use it and it works for you, don't use it and stay confused. If, as you say, in Norway they don't have a married name then use both the maiden and marreid name as the same since she doesn't change it.
But I agree with Ben, If it's her maried name. fine, if it's her mairreid name, fine just put it in the right spot and you'll be --- wait for it -----fine (why do you think there's a spot for both a maiden and another just for name, to be used, as the programmer didn't put it there for fun, they both have a purpose)

Mimi,

The hot match issue will get fixed - it's a development effort by geni and friends. There's no reason not to follow anglo american practices in the anglo american tree.

I guess maybe I should have been more specific in my original post.

I was looking for the UK practice as all of my family tree seems to be contain within this little isle. Also I was refering to what is the general practice in Parish and Government records.

The reason I ask is there is a member of my family that I know was a widow and shows as such when getting married.
When looking at the records of her second marraige, it has her recorded down as a widow, but I am wondering as to whether the name recorded is her maiden name or her name from her first marraige?

I have seen it both ways, but normally it will say something like "The widow Brown" or something if it's not her maiden name. I think the clerks at the time just filled out paper work the way they thought it should be, There was no set of instuctions, and a lot of times the Church and not the State determained what to do including what was put on a form.