How to Find Someone’s Maiden Name

Michelle Wilson - October 26, 2022

You’re not alone if you’re having trouble determining the maiden name of one or more of your female ancestors. Throughout history, it wasn’t uncommon for women to leave their maiden names behind after marriage. For this reason, identifying someone’s maiden name can be extremely difficult in some cases, with many searches leading to a complete dead end, at least without help.

But that’s not to say these searches aren’t worth your while. Many successful searchers have located a maiden name on public documents like a death record or marriage certificate, in census data, or listed on a child’s birth or baptismal record. However, this is not always the case. In many cases, informants on death records did not know or did not bother to record a woman’s maiden name. In other cases, women used their married names instead of their maiden names. Even worse, records may not be readily available, especially if you’re looking for women before 1850.

For this reason, the following guide will look at other creative ways to locate a maiden name, such as through a middle name search or asking the community.

Browsing Public Sources

The first step in a maiden name search is browsing public resources. This guide explores some of the most common in the list below.

Birth, Death, and Divorce Records

In the public record deep dive, the first step searchers should take is locating associated birth, death, and divorce records for the woman and their siblings and children in the hopes of locating a maiden name. The good news is that many of these records and related resources of genealogical evidence are now available online, with companies indexing them with digital images pending. The ones that aren’t can be easily ordered online from archives and libraries.

Before the twentieth century, divorces were frequently difficult and costly to obtain, particularly for women. But, contrary to popular belief, they did occur. For the searcher, this means you can discover a maiden name by reviewing divorce decrees if no other sources are available. In certain countries like the United States, searchers can obtain a copy of a divorce decree by writing or visiting the statistics office in their local state or area where the event occurred.

The Canadian Genealogy Centre website has information about divorce records in Canada. Divorce records are also available at the provincial level, as detailed on the website mentioned above.

Marriage Records

A marriage record is the best place to look for a woman’s maiden name (both civil and religious). Licenses, banns, bonds, and consent affidavits are examples of such documents. A Bann is an announcement of an impending marriage typically made in church on three consecutive Sundays. Before the twentieth century, it was a government requirement that grooms sign a bond, which ensured there was no legal (or moral) reason for the couple not to marry. Typically, the bride’s father or brother signed the bond as surety. Consider that it was a requirement for a parent or guardian to sign a consent affidavit when the bride and/or groom was under the legal marriage age.

Take note of the names of the witnesses, as these are frequently people from both the bride’s and groom’s families. There may be a subscript that states that the husband and wife were from the same town or that their ancestors married someone who lived within thirty miles of where he or she lived. Finally, do not assume that a person only had one marriage, especially if vital records are scarce or missing.

Searchers can find marriage records at county or town clerks’ offices in the United States, church offices, state vital records offices, or health boards. Some searchers have also found the information on VitalRec.com, a detailed account of marriage records by state, to be useful.

Church Records

If your ancestors were religious, you might be able to find a record of her marriage in the local church. However, you must be familiar with the religious faith or denomination to do this. Even if your female ancestor was not known to actively attend a church, or if family stories indicated she eloped, it is still worthwhile to contact churches in the area to see if they have a marriage record. Avoid making assumptions about your ancestor’s life. Always look for evidence.

Unlike the United States, marriage records in Canada have been kept primarily by individual provinces since the early 1900s. Searchers can find all older records and similar information from churches in the area. To find the relevant documents, you must first know the religion of the person you are attempting to locate, as well as the name of the parish or mission that he or she attended. Many use the Canadian Archival Information Network – Religious Archives Resources for this information.

Old Newspapers

Newspapers are a fantastic resource for determining a woman’s maiden name. Searchers can find the names of the deceased’s parents in newspaper obituaries. Wedding announcements, which include the names of both the bride and groom-to-be, are also frequently published in newspapers.

Check for the approximate date of the wedding and a few weeks afterward. Also, search for the groom if you only know his name. There is a good chance your female ancestors and their maiden names will be a part of these old papers.

Review First and Last Names In The Family

Most family historians recognize that families frequently honored their grandmothers, grandfathers, and other loved ones by naming their children after these family members. However, this naming tradition was not limited to first names. Many families incorporated women’s surnames into their first and middle names. Therefore, searchers are encouraged to look carefully at the names of their female ancestor’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren for hints.

Searchers may ask themselves, “Are there any names that stand out to you or may resemble a surname? Is that surname already present in your family tree? By asking these questions, you might find details that suggest you are onto something.

Try ‘pretending’ that this is the woman’s maiden name for a while and doing some new searches for her with it. It may turn up records where none previously existed. When some women married, they added their maiden names to their middle names, so you can also look for hints there.

A word to the wise. Be careful not to make assumptions that will result in incorrect tree additions. Use this tip and all of the tricks in this article as a courtesy. Moreover, always seek solid verification before adding any information to your files. Before you add a maiden name to the woman on your tree, make sure you have a connecting document (one that lists the woman’s known family, such as her spouse and children, as well as her maiden name or parents).

Ask the Community for Help

Sometimes, there is only so far you can get in a search alone. For this reason, some have found it helpful to contact churches and archives for assistance if the records you require aren’t available online. Join online discussion boards where like-minded researchers are eager to help.