Help - Last Name Discrepancy

[vertifly]

Hey everyone.

My research in geneology has been an adventure to say the least. It's taken me half way across America twice. I've been doing the research for about 1 1/2 years now.

In my posession, I have EVERYTHING that I need. From my birth certificate to my great greatfather's from 1870.

There is, however, a problem. The names on two documents from Ohio.

A marriage certificate and a birth certificate.

The family last name is Martucci.

My great grandfather's marriage certificate in Ohio says "Commaso Marttucci". His name everywhere else is Tommaso Martucci. His first name on the marriage record is incorrectly spelled with a "C". The last name has an extra "t".

My grandfather's birth certificate says Louis Marttuci. They removed a "c" and added a "t".

The lady in the marriage record office was very nasty. Everyone else has it correct. Ohio sucks.

My grandpa is still alive at the age of 94. Maybe there is something I can do for his birth certificate still.

Do you think this is going to affect my elligibility?

Has anyone tried to get the court orders for the changes?

How hard is it?

Any info would be much appreciated. Ciao.

[Emmy]

Hi vertifly,

Has anyone tried to get the court orders for the changes?

How hard is it?

Sorry I cannot answer the above questions for you but re the different spelling of the surname - this happened a lot on old records I think this mainly occurred because many people couldnt read or write and probably the person recording the name would be writing it down as they 'heard' it said therefore the variety of spelling of the name. My own grandparents names were recorded with approx. 8 different spellings.

Wishing good luck with your problem
Emmy

[JamesBianco]

Most likely it will not be a problem, the extra C and T will be considered a trivial discrepancy by the Consulate. I would not worry or stress out about it unless they tell you otherwise.

Where you would have to worry is when the difference is not an obvious spelling/translation error such as "Cosimo Martin" .

My own great-grandfather Diego Bianco is listed everywhere in this county as John Bianco. I spoke to the consulate and they told me it is not a concern.

Hope that helps!

Did you write for your "No record Found" letters to USCIS?

There will be a program online in just a couple days where you can search
their indexes for free. Unfortunately the certificate of "No Record" must come from the office itself, despite what you find on the site, and the wait time is long (2 years currently)

(or are you one of the lucky ones who has The Original Naturalization record which occurred after his US born children's births?)

Keep us posted!

[mler]

I tend to agree with James that this shouldn't be a problem, but if, as I suspect, you are going through the Chicago consulate, you may want to try to amend your grandfather's birth certificate.

When I applied in New York, the consulate was particularly picky about consistency in birth certificate names, and I amended my birth certificate so that my dad's name was the same as that on his own birth certificate. I didn't bother with the marriage certificate, and that didn't concern them.

Check on the procedure in Ohio. If it is simply a matter of informing the issuing office of a transcription error, make the change. If it involves a major legal procedure, let it go. The odds on in your favor that it will pass.

[johnnyonthespot]

When I applied in New York, the consulate was particularly picky about consistency in birth certificate names ...

I also applied in NYC and my application was recently approved, but not without a few scary moments.

Regarding the spelling of names, my impression was that they will go easier on you if you are dealing with an obvious misspelling ("pzza" instead of "pizza") or a single altered letter, especially if it is a common mistake on US documents (perhaps "marcone" instead of "marconi").

Where you are less likely to get a free pass, however, is a situation in which the incorrect spelling results in a valid Italian name. My mother's maiden name was De Iavoco and that is how it appeared (in poorly written longhand) on her marriage certificate. My birth certificate had the name as De Iacova, and I think the consulate was willing to give me a pass on the "o" vs "a" ending until another problem cropped up - the font in which my birth certificate was printed used a straight vertical bar to represent an upper-case "I", however the citizenship officer insisted it was actaully an upper-case "L", thereby making the name De Lacova. "An entirely different name!", he exclaimed.

In the end, I obtained a correction of my birth certificate to fix the o vs a thing and clarify the "L" vs "I" (which was already correct in the official record, by the way).

[vertifly]

My appointment is with the Miami consulate. There may also be the option of going through NY or Newark because for 6 months out of the year I reside in NJ.

Thanks for the opinions thus far. It is a small relief to hear other peoples opinion about name discrepancies. There are, however, other kinds of opinions within this forum.

The reason that the discrepancies concern me is because there are forum posts where people have had problems with the Miami consulate. Someone posted a story about a name change on a current-day marriage record. They mentioned their last name was changed from "ch" to "ck" for correct pronunciation.

If changes need to be made to my two documents, then I will have to travel to Ohio a few times. And given the attitude from office workers in Ohio, there will be a war before anything gets changed.

Perhaps it would be better to go through a different consulate - like NY. Does anyone have an opinion on which consulate is better? ...with regard to this subject or others?

[mler]

If you have a residence in NJ, you would either be in the jurisdiction of the Newark or the Philadelphia consulate (most probably Newark, but it depends on your county). You would not be able to apply in New York.

Newark will, in a few months, become a full-fledged consulate and will add several counties which are now assigned to Philly. If you have everything pretty much in place, you might want to apply in Newark now, since they accept walk-in appointments. When their work load increases, they may no longer do so.

Newark does require translations, but you will not need documents from the non-Italian line. The young lady who works the citizenship desk in Newark seems reasonable.

If I were in your position, I would apply in Newark since there is no wait. If they create problems, apply in Miami when your appointment date arrives. Be sure to provide proof of residency. A lease or a deed and utility bills should suffice if your driver's license is from Florida.

[Seraphina]

Hi Vertifly,

If it's any help to you, the correct spelling of your surname (as I'm sure you know) is Martucci. This name is widespread throughout Italy.

The alternative spellings (Marttuci or Marttucci) do not exist in the Italian phone book.

Hope this little bit of info helps.

Seraphina
England

[jeannierivera]

I have an interesting one for you... on grandfather's birth certificate his name is recorded as Jiovanni Daivado - YES IT DOES NOT EXIST his father is listed as Juiseepe Daivado and mother Maria Daivado Their names correctly spelled on everything else including my grandfather's Baptism certifcate 22 days after his birth: John Davide, Joseph Davide and Mary Davide...

Go figure. I know that I had contacted a company ICAP Italian Citizenship Assistance Program based in Arlington Heights IL, and they will prepare an Affidavit to address discrepancies in names, dates and locations amoung documents cost $65.00

They said that this is usually enough to satisfy the consulate. Only time will tell though. Maybe that could help. Their website is:

www.icapbridging2worlds.com Best of Luck

[jeannierivera]

"Did you write for your "No record Found" letters to USCIS?

There will be a program online in just a couple days where you can search
their indexes for free"

Sorry don't know how to quote it from above, but did this become available online? If so can you tell me where Thanks

[mler]

jeannie, you should be able to prepare your own affidavit. There's no need to pay $65 to service to explain the discrepancies.

I doubt you'll have any problem with the "J" replacing the "G," unless you're dealing with someone who has decided to be really picky. The straight English translations of the names (Giuseppe/Joseph; Giovanni/John) should also pose no problem.

Through what consulate will you be applying?

[domenic5]

Be aware of websites who do not have listed any telephone numbers.

Many people have had troubles with it.

Good luck

[domenic5]

Some Consulates accept AFFIDAVIT, they may be posted in their websites. Let me know if you would like to know more.

Domenico

[matta]

I really don't know why you're bumping old threads but...

For future posters, Miami will not accept a document with any surname discrepancies, no matter how trivial or obvious or small. All documents but have the same surname and same date of birth, or your application will be rejected.

Miami will also not accept an affidavit. In fact, she said that she won't even look at them. All documents must be corrected.

The consulate officer was very specific about this and emphasized it multiple times in a phone call just last month. I'm in the process of 4 separate court orders because of this.

[macpostino]

I have an appointment with the Italian Consulate in Miami in November 2009.
I also have a similar problem.
My grandfather's last name has a double "C" and my father's and mine have only one "C"
Even thought this is consider a minor problem I understand that I have to rectificy this discrepancy in order to submit my papers without any problems.
What exactly do I have to do to correct this?
I'd really appreciate your feedback.
Nobody can tell me exactly, what I have to do!

Macpostino