It is very rare for me to see official name changes while doing Puerto Rican genealogical research. Sometimes, I will see that a person goes by their middle name in other records later in life, for example, someone born as María Dolores might just use Dolores or a Juan de la Cruz might just use Cruz. This is understandable since many other Marías and Juans might already exist in the family that choosing to go by a middle name might be easier. In Puerto Rico, I myself tend to go by my middle name since Luis is much more of a common name compared to my middle name. However, what happens when you completely change your name?
In this post I want to document this change and show some of the documents related to a 1st cousin, 3x removed who was born with one name and later in life went by a completely different name. You never know when something similar might appear in your family as well! I will talk about how Valeriana went to Aurelia Orozco Pinto!
Valeriana "Santiago Pintol"
The first record is a baptism for a Valeriana Santiago Pintol, born the 10th September 1912, the legitimate daughter of Pedro Santiago and Ángela Pintol, both from Yabucoa. It then lists the grandparents as Leonor? (the name is a bit hard to make out) Santiago and Antonio Pintol and Liboria Sepúlveda.
What is interesting is that a lot of the information in this baptism record is actually incorrect and was not corrected until Valeriana, later Aurelia, changes her name in 1979 (a whole 67 years later!). Aurelia was the first born daughter of Pedro Orozco Santiago and Ángela Pinto Sepúlveda. This was later corrected along with the names of Pedro’s parents who were actually Benito Orozco & Dolores Santiago. We will later see that this information is corroborated with Aurelia’s birth record in the Civil Registry.
I am honestly not sure what happened here! There are stories of people (such as neighbors, close family members, etc.) going to register newly-born children and in the process making mistakes on spellings, parents’ names, and even what name they wanted to name the baby! I have anecdotal stories from my own grandma and of family friends as well of this occurring to them so it is not that far fetched to have happened over 100 years ago as well. Since this is a baptism – one would think the couple and the baby itself would need to be present in order for this inscription to occur… right?
A Rose by any other name...
Since Valeriana was born in the year 1912, she would not appear with her family until the 1920 census. Here again, the record is riddled with mistakes! Don’t worry – we will take a look at Aurelia’s actual birth in a second!
Though she appears as Aurelia at this point – the record still has other mistakes. It seems that her father’s name was written as Benítez but later erased to include Orozco (his actual surname). However, the census taker must have forgotten to remove that surname from the child as well since Aurelia, “Benido” (should be Bienvenido), Conrada, and Gil appear as “Benítez Pinto” and not “Orozco Pinto”. Similarly, the spouse is listed as Liboria Pinto Sepúlveda when in reality it should be Ángela – Liboria was Ángela’s mother’s name!
Simple slip ups and mistakes like this can definitely cause doubts when it comes to relations amongst the people listed on a document. Especially when we have no idea who is coming forward to give said information. As genealogists we try to have the most airtight possible records connecting one generation to the next as proofs of relationships and variations like these in documents can cause our hypothesis or theory on a family connection to become much weaker.
...would smell as sweet.
Valeriana’s birth record makes it very clear that she *is now* Aurelia. What is interesting to note is that Aurelia’s birth in the Civil Registry is registered in the year 1918, six years after her birth and baptism. Was it a clerical error that she was written as Valeriana or did her parents not think that the name Valeriana did not fit for her any longer and switched over to Aurelia?
We do know that it is not another potential sister seeing as how it is the same year listed in her baptism record, coupled with the fact that there was a baptism amendment correcting the name change. Speaking of errors, there is a discrepancy between Aurelia’s birth date on her baptism and on her birth record. Below she is listed as having been born the 10th July 1912 while her baptism listed it as the 10th September 1912. Poor Aurelia has been dealing with small errors here and there it seems her entire life! Luckily the names of her parents and grandparents match other records we have for them!
Confirming an identity
In order for Aurelia to change her name in her baptism a few things needed to occur. In section six of the solicitud de inscripción o enmienda de partida (application for registration or entry amendment) you can see the various documents provided to confirm her identity. Equally, she was accompanied by her brother (section three) Bienvenido Orozco Pinto.
Amongst the records listed are:
1. Certificate of Birth, Demographic Registry, Yabucoa, Book 6, Page 33
2. Baptismal Certificate, for Valeriana, Yabucoa, Book 31-B, Page 31
3. Marriage Certificate for for Aurelia, Yabucoa, Book 15, Page 71, #139
4. Marriage Certificate for Pedro Orozco and Ángela Pinto, Book 13-A, Page 34 #67
So far we have seen the first two documents for Valeriana/Aurelia. Her marriage record to her husband Modesto Mercado Ocasio lists her as Aurelia Orozco and her parents’ marriage record I guess was just needed to confirm their relationship as her legitimate parents.
One Final Change - so we hope!
Towards the end of Aurelia’s life (though I do not have Aurelia’s death record I imagine she has passed away already given her birth year) Aurelia and few of her siblings (and also cousins) started using “Santana” instead of “Orozco” as a surname. In 1950 you can see Aurelia living with her husband Modesto Mercado and five of their children: Pablo, Amparo, Carlos, José, and Adolfo Mercado Santana.
The reason for yet another change in Aurelia’s name is the fact that her paternal grandfather, Benito Orozco had been born out of wedlock to his mother Estefanía Orozco. Some descendants later started using Santana and ultimately a “genealogical rift” (a term I just created on the spot haha) occurred where some descendants now go by Santana and others by Orozco. My branch kept the surname Orozco until it was daughtered out via my great-grandmother Epifanía Dávila Orozco.
Likely, Benito’s father was a man with the surname Santana but I have yet to discover who this man was based off records. I have attempted to explore this mystery but for the most part I have come empty-handed.
As you can see with the case of Aurelia, it is important to be aware of name changes and slight variations in records because sometimes they can make all the difference. You might have experienced this with cousins who share the same name or various generations who have passed down a given name as well.
But keep an eye out for name changes, you never know when you’ll have a Valeriana – Aurelia case as well 😉
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Cover Image Source: Iglesia Católica Santos Ángeles Custodios (Yabucoa, Puerto Rico), “Libro 31-B Bautismos 1912-1915,” p. 31, no. 94, Valeriana Santiago Pinto, baptism amendment, 14 December 1912; accessed as “Registros Parroquiales, 1645-1969,” browsable images, FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1807092 : accessed 27 August 2023).