JS via Washington DC, GGF Name/Date Discrepancy Advice

[ConfusedWriter]

My GGF was born March 24, 1877 in Cefalu and his birth record states his name is Giuseppe Piraro, named after his maternal grandmother, but he always went by Nicolo (his paternal grandfather’s name).

When he came to America, he uses Nick/Nicolas on his documents and gradually changes from Nick Piraro to Nick Piro. On his naturalization and my grandfathers documents, he is Nick/Nicholas Piro. He also did not know his real birthday, so he used December 25, 1877 on all of his official American documents (marriage, children’s birth certificates, naturalization petitions, etc). He naturalized in the 1940’s when my grandfather was 20 years old so I don’t think we have any issues with the line being broken. He married my GGM, who was also an Italian citizen, in America, but I don’t think I can use her (although her name remains consistent across all documents) since she was born in 1888.

Do I need to proactively work on these name and date discrepancies for my application through the DC embassy? I’ve read conflicting information that the Americanized names and dates being off by a few months is common in the late 1800’s but I want to be proactive but I don’t want to start amending vital records legally and making things more complicated but I also don’t want to show up to my appointment in a few months unprepared.

Thanks for any advice, it’s much appreciated.

[mler]

Minor name discrepancies are generally not an issue, but the discrepancies you note are much more than minor. The information your ggf provides on the naturalization documents establishes his Italian citizenship and the paternal connection to his US-born children, and that’s all to the good. Consulates, however, generally insist on birth records, and that is where you may run into problems in terms of major name discrepancies and in actually locating the document. Do the best you can to provide a connection among the various names he used and then see what the consulate has to say.

If the naturalization document information does not satisfy them and your claim is rejected, you most certainly can use your ggm, albeit with a 1948 lawsuit.

[ConfusedWriter]

Thank you so much. I have his Italian birth record which says Giuseppe.

I’m going to try to get the ship manifest he immigrated on to see which name he used, but unfortunately it’s not online, but microfilm in a closed library :/