For question 6, list all names you have used, including name at birth, maiden name, previously married name, alias and nickname....
If my name is ABC DEF GHI JKL but in school records, it only says ABC JKL (First Name Last Name). Do I need to list ABC JKL?
Short Answer:
My current view about this item is that so long as the name used has the same first and last name, it is NOT a different name and
probably does not need to be listed separately.
Longer Response (and explanation for how my view has evolved):
This is not how I viewed this item previously, which was largely rooted in the way previous applications asked for "other names," which had just one box for entering "Given name(s)" and allowed the applicant to describe in his or her own words "details" about why the other name was used (and "variations of given name" made sense in this respect), and it taking me a few looks at the new form to more clearly (I think and hope) understand what IRCC is asking and what IRCC expects.
(Note: this particular subject amply illustrates the extent to which I am no expert, notwithstanding how thoroughly and carefully I research and analyze the citizenship application process. In my defense, however, I would suggest that IRCC, like CIC before it, can be deliberately vague in more than a few respects, the object being to solicit a range of information which will help IRCC assess many aspects of the applicant and application. For some of the information IRCC solicits, it is not the technically correct response which matters so much as it is the gist of the information and what can be inferred from it. This is a corollary to observations about how, for more than a couple items in the application, there is not necessarily a definite way to correctly answer.)
In any event, as I said, my view about this one has evolved some given that the current application form limits the applicant's explanation, as to why this name was used, to just six choices:
-- Name at birth
-- Maiden name
-- Married name
-- Previously married name
-- Alias
-- Nick name
And, perhaps more significantly, the table for listing other names has columns
only for
-- Family name (Last name)
-- Given name (First name)
The latter suggests the first and last name is the important part. Variations as to middle names, initials, no middle names or initials, are not what they are looking for.
And variations as to middle names, initials, no middle names or initials, do not clearly fit any of the categories listed. Alias comes somewhat close, but suggests not just a variation of name but a totally different name.
This is a little incongruous with the specific request for nick names. Especially since nick names are less likely to be a version of a person's name which shows up in relevant documentation than variations of the name otherwise. One would think that part of IRCC's objective is to clearly match (with the applicant) or distinguish (from the applicant) various records or documentation. Such as school records. Employment records. For an applicant named William Jackson Henry Smith, for example, does "Bill Smith" (nick name) illuminate much of import, particularly in trying to verify that this or that school or employment record for "William Smith" or "Wiliam J.H. Smith" is the particular individual referenced in certain employer or school records, compared to the many tens of thousand of people in North America named "William Smith." The variations of name seem far more illuminating and relevant than "Bill Smith," but it now appears to me that IRCC wants the applicant to list (disclose) "Bill Smith" as a nick name but not "William J. Smith" or just "William Smith" as a variation of name used by William Jackson Henry Smith in contexts like school records, employment records, bank accounts, and so on.
As I have observed elsewhere, sometimes it is simply difficult to understand why a bureaucracy does what it does, recognizing
bureaucracy is what bureaucracy does. Best we can do is to chart what appears to be the best routes to navigate the process.
So, disclose nick names. Apparently no need to report use of alternative versions of one's name so long as the first and last name is the same.
