Tech Forum

We have women in our ward and stake who use their maiden names regularly. In LDS Tools on both Android and iPhone I can search for the maiden name and they pop up just fine. When I search for that name in lds.org directory the person doesn't exist. The strange thing is that I can search on the first name and find her correctly.

Also, it would be nice if the "Household" listing on lds.org and LDS tools would reflect both last names.
Currently in LDS Tools: "Doe, John and Jane". If I click on that I do see individuals: Doe, John and Smith, Jane as two people
Could family listing please say "Doe, John and Smith, Jane". This might automatically solve the search problem?

This topic has been discussed here previously, although I can't seem to find a thread that I thought existed...

The following posts may be of some interest:

• Family with multiple last names
• Married but kept Maiden name
• Wife wants to keep maiden name, lds.org won't show it

I thought there was a conversation thread a while ago that included comments from members from countries where the wife does not change her name when married and there were some difficulties and someone from the church participated to indicate the problem was being worked on in a more general sense across the church membership, but I can't seem to find that thread. Maybe it was wishful thinking in my mind?

mevans wrote:This topic has been discussed here previously, although I can't seem to find a thread that I thought existed...
. . . but I can't seem to find that thread. Maybe it was wishful thinking in my mind?

You remember correctly, but my search skills are not good enough to find that topic, either.

Could it have been this topic?
My name suddenly wrong church wide

For the original poster, a workaround is to go into MLS, under household, and change the household name to a hyphenated combination of both family names.

The frustrating thing about this is that it works as it should in LDS Tools -- both Android and iOS, but not in lds.org. I know these are different coding groups. Could someone from LDS Tools group please tell the lds.org group to fix this?

I am seconding Sue Allen's request. Please make lds.org work like LDS tools for those of us who regularly use our married names. When I served as a Relief Society president, I was invisible to lds.org users. I still am. Depending on how the "households" database is set up, this could be a really easy fix. Give me access to the code and I will fix it? Or tell me who I can connect with in the lds.org group? Because letting this remain as it is sends a really poor message to women everywhere. "The name by which she shall be known on earth and upon the records of the church is....." Except that I am not known upon the records of the church when those records are viewed via lds.org/directory. The obvious problem with the suggested MLS workaround, namely to go under household and change the household name to a hyphenated combination of both family names, is that then neither the husband or the wife is reflected accurately; neither one being represented by their legal name.

It will happen when re-doing the directory comes up in the priorities that are handed down by the Priesthood Department. There is no way for anyone in this forum to get that message to them. You can use the feedback link on the main lds.org page, or ask your stake president to raise the issue with the area authority.

Nor is there any provision for the community to help with this. I'd imagine that the oversight required would be as much work as making the change.