Enter simple, double-barreled or multiple surnames

Heredis lets you enter a wide range of data. These include surnames.

Heredis therefore includes a Surname field in the data entry form for a person.

See the following articles for the different types of input:
Add an unrelated person, Add spouses, Add persons, Add other linkedpersons, Add witnesses and participants, Add children, Add parents, Input a family group data.

Enter a simple surname

In genealogy, you may find several spellings of a surname for the same person.
Choose the spelling you wish to indicate. You can change it if necessary.

We advise you to use the name the person was born with or the one you found the most.
Then enter the other spellings for this person in the Alternate names section. See Alternate names.

For example, Smit Peter on the birth certificate and Smet Peter on the census.

Heredis considers that there is one entry per surname entered. If you have other names, Heredis will add them to the Surname index.

When you search in the Persons panel, in Smart Search or when you add a person, Heredis searches for existing persons with that surname, even if it’s an alternate name.

Enter a double-barreled surname

There are also double-barreled surname.
Heredis allows you to manage double-barreled surnames by inserting a hyphen between the two surnames.

For example, enter Smith-Johnson.

Heredis will treat this double-barreled surname as a single surname, so there will be a single entry in the surname index.

Enter multiple surnames

In Hispanic countries, but also more recently in various countries, it is possible to have several surnames. Indeed, it is possible to have both the father’s and the mother’s surname. This is not always a double-barrelled surname.

Since Heredis 2026, it is possible to enter multiple surnames.
Enter the first surname, then add a slash / to separate it from the second surname.

For example, Martinez/Gomes.

You can enter these multiple surnames with or without spaces between the / and the surnames. Heredis will format them.
In input screens, the / will be visible, but elsewhere it will not appear.

Heredis will consider these to be 2 distinct surnames. There will therefore be 2 entries in the Surnames index.

Note: regardless of the format you enter, a surname is made up of accented or non-accented letters. Don’t add special characters (brackets, punctuation, etc.), only the hyphen can be found in a surname. Don’t add images, emoji, etc. either. Search tools will be confused and these characters could cause problems in GEDCOM export.