Americanized Names on Legal Documents

[alioli2349]

Hello!

I am applying for Italian Dual Citizenship, and I am very close to being finished. However, I noticed a problem on the documents relating to my Grandmother. I am applying through my Great Grandfather, his daughter (my grandmother) was born Maria Giuseppa. However, she never went by this name so on all other documents, beside her birth certificate, it says Mary Josephine.

She didn't legally change her name and she is still alive. I'm not really sure how to proceed with this issue.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. I will be applying for citizenship through the Boston consulate.

Thank you,
Amy

[johnnyonthespot]

Amy,

I cannot swear to this - partly because everything depends on the particular consulate you are applying at - but I think it may be enough to have your grandmother sign a sworn statement which indicates that Mary Josephine and Maria Giuseppa are one and the same person. If she is healthy enough to travel, it would be even better if she appeared with you at your consulate appointment.

Where will you be applying?

Here is a sample "autocertificazione" template from the New York consulate's site: http://www.consnewyork.esteri.it/NR/rdo ... azione.pdf

A google translation of the same document: http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... cazione%2F

Be sure to use her maiden surname in the cognome field and Maria Giuseppa in the nome field.

In the section labeled "DICHIARA" ("States"), you might put something like:

that I am one and the same person as the person identified as "Mary Josephine Smtih" on the following documents:

• [example: "New York State Marriage License and Certificate of Marriage of John Jones and Mary Josephine Smith, January 1, 1948"]
  
  [example: "New York State Certificate of Birth of Joseph Smith, born January 1, 1950"]
  
  [and so on]

If your grandmother is able to, she should appear with you and sign the autocertificazione in the presence of a consular official. If this is not possible, she should do so in front of a notary public and the document should then be notarized.

Depending on your situation, you may wish to prepare the autocertificazione in advance and email a copy of it along with copies of the listed documents to the consulate, requesting an advance review and approval.

In the worst case, the consulate will insist that all documents showing "Mary Josephine" be corrected to read Maria Giuseppa. I am guessing that this means only having to amend your grandmother's marriage license/certificate and your father's/mother's birth certificate. Both of these changes should be relatively easy to do so long as your grandmother is living.

[alioli2349]

Thank you Carmine! My grandmother has been very helpful during this process, so I will ask her if she can join me.

I will be applying in Boston. When would you recommend setting up an appointment?

Here is what I have so far:

GGF - Birth Certificate (from Italy), Marriage and Death Certificate, Naturalization Documents from USCIS
GGM - Birth Certificate (From Italy), Marriage and Death Certificate
GM - Birth Certificate and Marriage Certificate
GF - Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate and Death Certificate
F - Birth Certificate and Marriage Certificate
M - Birth Certificate and Marriage Certificate
Me - Birth Certificate

I just need to send these documents to an apostille. Should I have them translated before I make an appointment? How long does it usually take to schedule an appointment with the consulate?

Thank you,
Amy

[johnnyonthespot]

You should absolutely make an appointment as soon as possible; the waiting period can be long.

Amy, I don't want to jinx you or your grandmother, but I would say also that you should make every attempt to wrap up the situation regarding her given names as quickly as possible. If, God forbid, something should happen to her, the case will become orders of magnitude more difficult.

Here is Boston's autocertificazione template: http://www.consboston.esteri.it/NR/rdon ... azione.pdf

Consider doing the autocertificazione now and have it notarized by a Massachusetts-licensed notary public, then have it apostilled along with the rest of your documents.

Once that is out of the way (call it your "back-up, Plan B"), you should consider going ahead and amending your grandmother's marriage certificate and your father's (mother's?) birth certificate as necessary. See http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eohhs2termi ... id=Eeohhs2 for details.

[jennabet]

I don't think it's necessary because Mary Josephine is the English translation of Maria Giuseppa. My grand-father's name was Guglielmo. Some of his docs listed him as William, which is the English translation. This was not a problem at Philadelphia.

[johnnyonthespot]

I don't think it's necessary because Mary Josephine is the English translation of Maria Giuseppa. My grand-father's name was Guglielmo. Some of his docs listed him as William, which is the English translation. This was not a problem at Philadelphia.

It's true, but every consulate is different and some are insistent that all names be exactly alike across all documents. There are many stories here of people being forced to amend even obvious discrepancies such as Giuseppe/Joseph and Maria/Mary.

Sadly, Amy may find she will have plenty of time to deal with this when she calls to schedule an appointment. I doubt she will get into the Boston consulate much before the end of the year.

[alm]

I'm going to have this same problem with my dad's name (sometimes Italian spelling, sometimes English). He was born, lives, and has mostly always lived in Pennsylvania. Should the notary be in Pennsylvania. But I will be applying in Boston.

I'll get him to sign the autocertificazione but will it matter if the notary is from PA?

[johnnyonthespot]

I'm going to have this same problem with my dad's name (sometimes Italian spelling, sometimes English). He was born, lives, and has mostly always lived in Pennsylvania. Should the notary be in Pennsylvania. But I will be applying in Boston.

I'll get him to sign the autocertificazione but will it matter if the notary is from PA?

Understand the process and point of notary public's and you will know the answer to your question.

A notary public acts as a state-licensed, disinterested third party who attests to a fact under penalty of severe consequences if he/she is caught falsifying a document.

The way it is supposed to work is that a person (your father, in this case) appears before a notary public who knows him personally (many people will use a notary service provided by their bank, accountant, or attorney). Alternately, he appears before an unknown notary public and presents sufficient identification including photo ID (passport, driver's license, etc), to convince the notary that he is who he claims to be.

In either case, he then signs the document in front of the notary public who then attaches his/her statement, signature, and raised seal attesting to the identity of the person who signed the document and implying that it was signed freely and not under duress or threat.

So, as you can see, your father must take the unsigned document to any notary public convenient to him, no matter what city or state that may be), present evidence of his identity, sign the document, and then have the notary public do his/her thing.

[alm]

Thank you!