Discrepancy in name spelling - how to address?

[lisahickey]

My family's name is spelled differently in several places - when GGF came to this country is was spelled with one p in Claps, and GF's birth certificate has only one p, but after this, all documents have two pps (Clapps), including GGF death certificate, GF marriage and death certificates and Mother's birth certificate and all subsequent documents. We are going to file first in Boston, and then in NYC, and I know that this is likely to be a problem so I contacted the town clerk in Waterbury, CT where most documents were created, but they cannot give me a letter stating that GF is the same person listed on birth, marriage and death certificates. What should I do next? I have no idea where I should look for help after this?

[italiangal36]

Did you ask the town clerk in Waterbury what the process is to correct the documents? I've been working with 3 town clerk's in the Boston area and for them it involves sending them certain documents where the information is correct. Is it also spelled with just on P on your GGF's Italian birth certificate and marriage certificate?

[lisahickey]

I did ask and they had no idea. I guess I could try Social Security next, but that doesn't seem hopeful. The Italian birth cert for GGF and his marriage cert (from NY City) have only one P, but his death cert and other docs starting in 1924 have 2 Ps. So I could get things corrected to reflect the 1 P in the italian documents, but that would require changing almost every document I have and asking Mother in Law and her sister to change their names legally, which I'm not sure they want to do. If there is another way around this, I'd prefer to do that - I just need to figure out what it is!

[italiangal36]

Out of curiosity, have you tried emailing the Italian consulate to find out if this will be an issue and what to do? If you need to correct the 2 US documents to show two 'P's you can also try the state if you haven't already- or you can ask to speak to someone in a higher position. There has to be a way to do this. The fact the Italian document only shows one 'P' is the question mark. I'm actually in a similar situation- my ggf's last name on his birth certificate from Italy starts with a Di whereas ALL of his US documents starts with a De. I'm going through the SF consulate and will probably email them soon (I have a few questions and am waiting for one more document before I email them so I can group them). I'll report back with what they say but am curious as to what others have done in this situation.

[lisahickey]

good idea - thanks - i'll email them before i do anything else, just in case they say it won't be a problem, and perhaps if it is at least they'll be able to tell me what to do to solve it! good luck with the Di/De situation - I'll be curious to hear what they say!

[dgeorge]

Lisahickey: Did you ever get a response from the consulate and was this a problem?

[lisahickey]

The Boston consulate said it might be a problem, but that they would submit the documents. We still have one document I need to change before they can do that, so not sure yet what the upshot will be. I'm expecting more problems in New York this summer, though, when we do it again for other family members. I'll keep you posted.

[JJ313]

If Boston will accept the names the way they are and submit them to your commune then you should be okay. The commune has the last word on recording the documents but the consulate makes the decision on whether or not you qualify for citizenship.

Who will be applying in NY and will they need to cover the same ground as you in terms of qualifying?

[lisahickey]

My mother in law applied in Boston and her sister, her nephew and my husband are applying in NYC. All of the forms are the same except for their birth and marriage certificates. Boston seemed to think that NYC was not obligated to accept the documents even if we have a case number/approval from Boston. But if the commune accepts them before our NYC appointment, I guess we'll be in good shape?

[JJ313]

NY does not have to accept the documents for your husband's aunt or cousin. In your husband's case he will need to provide his mother's Italian birth certificate and his documentation of course.

[corrado]

There is a afficavit you can submit that you swear that the people are the same. I used this in Chicago and they were OK with it. Why don't you use that?

[dgeorge]

Corrado, Thank you for sharing the affidait. Has anyone ever tried using something like this with the NY consulate? If so, what were the results?

[mdyer]

Corrado, is there a template for the affidavit you mention?