52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Week 9) Changing Names: My Daddy

When I saw the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge was “Changing Names”, I had several that came to mind, but the one that was most surprising was my daddy’s name change.

My daddy was born Harvey L. Cauble in 1933 in Jones County, Texas. I was joining the NSDAR (National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution) when I discovered his amended birth certificate which his father had signed and his name was legally changed to Kiefer Calvin Cauble. What????

I asked him about the name change. After all, I’d only heard him called “Kiefer Calvin”. Nothing else. Ever.

He laughed and said, “Oh, you knew that.” My reply was, “No, I don’t know this story.”

He proceeded to tell me that he was named Harvey L. at the hospital. Shortly after his parents got home, they decided they wanted to name him after “Doc Kiefer” (I may have identified this man recently). From then on he was known as Kiefer Calvin Cauble.

He used his “new name” without having had his birth certificate amended from 1^st grade to 12^th grade of high school, and then until his sophomore year of college at Texas Tech College (now Texas Tech University).  When he went into the military, his father signed an affidavit changing his name from Harvey L. Cauble to Kiefer Calvin Cauble on February 3, 1953. He was discharged from the military in early 1955 and returned to college as a Junior. He married my mother not too long after in November of 1955.

An interesting fact to me is that my mother knew his parents had changed his name, but she thought they had changed his name legally when he was a child. She was as surprised as me to learn that his name had been amended on his birth certificate when he was going into the military.

Daddy’s name change has caused family tree researchers to be baffled, especially at FamilySearch. For several years, he was listed as having a twin, and after repeatedly changing the information and adding notes that he did not have a twin, I’m hoping that it’s finally corrected. I'm crossing my fingers on this one. 

No twin. Same person. Two names. Thanks to my Grandmother and PawPaw Cauble’s delay in officially changing his name, my daddy became a "twin" at times. 

-Revis