other names you are or have been using?

[kourts]

Question 3 on schedule 1 background/declaration
Is this only for your last name or first name as well? For example in most cases I don't use my full first name it's shortened and spelled different, would I put this down?  also I don't think it asks this question in the sponsor forms but my wife goes by a different name on facebook and msn than her real name and she has not yet legally changed it, should we both make reference to this? and in any letters written by friends/family have them make note of it too? I don't want cic thinking I'm using evidence from a different relationship or something lol

[canuck0469]

The forms ask you to put down any other names that you have used so put the 'other names' on that section. Most people use aliases on social websites, I would likely be choked if my parents called canuck0469, lol

[kourts]

lol, I wasn't sure if it was an alias that was given by the government for protection or if it could be nicknames and things like that as well. 

[AllisonVSC]

List any names that have appeared on official documents - passports, driver's license, credit cards, employment records etc. and any nicknames commonly used by family and friends. No need to worry about the facebook/msn stuff.

So, for example if you are officially Thomas Robert Smith Jr but go by Tom, list it. If your family calls you Robbie, Junior, Bubba ( ) etc because your dad goes by Thomas, list them.

I listed my name as it appears on my birth certificate, my married name, and I've had some issues with the incorrect middle initial so I listed those as well.

[mala16]

AllisonVSC,
I sent you a personal message regarding this question. I hope you do not mind.
Thanks!

[CharlieD10]

Haha.  I wonder how many Jamaican candidates complied with that.  See, in Jamaica, it is quite common for people to have nicknames entirely unrelated to their "official" names.  Speaking for myself, I've a family nickname based on my middle name, I've an online nickname based on my first name, I've a personal nickname that my younger brother and I have used for each other since we were 6 and 7 and my mother's relatives use a name for me that they chose, as they do not like my given names!  

[AllisonVSC]

 @ Mala, I replied back to you.

 @ Charlie, I don't think that would be a problem. Go with what's on your official documents for places where you are asked to provide your Family and Given names. If you had some written evidence from your mother's relatives using their nickname for you instead of Charlie, just attach an explanation.

If I asked my brother (or any family member) to write a letter for the purposes of immigration I expect that he would use my given name and not his embarrassing childhood nickname for me (Aly Boo Boo Slug Slug... yep no kidding!).     But if I felt I needed to include a holiday card from 2006 addressed to "Boo Boo and Pierre" as some sort of evidence of couple-hood, I would just explain the reference.

[CharlieD10]

LOL, Allison.  What happened with our wedding cards was my relatives ended up using "Mr. and Mrs. X" on the envelopes, and didn't bother putting our names inside, just saying who the card was from in their signature.  I thought it was a tactful way for them to avoid using a name they don't like and not confusing the daylights out of my husband when he saw the cards to be wondering how come his wife had a name he never heard anyone use until he met that side of the family. 

[kourts]

Thanks you but there isn't a spot for the sponsor to do it, and that's the biggest problem.