Citizenship through descent -Grandmother changed her surname

[sarahharp]

I am looking to get Irish Citizenship through descent. I live in the UK and my mother was born here. Her mother was born in Ireland. I will use example surnames below for privacy.

The problem: My grandmother was born as 'Smith' and married my grandfather and became 'Jones'. However, at some point she appears to have gone by a third name 'Williams'. The name Williams appears on my mother's birth certificate as my grandmother's 'maiden name' which is causing me big problems.

My grandmother has passed away so I can't ask her about this, and my mother said she definitely never married anyone else. So we think she may have just chosen to go by this name for some reason, perhaps when she moved to the UK. We can't find any record of her changing her name, a marriage, deed pole, etc.


The documents we have:
-Grandmother's birth certificate with 'Smith' (correct maiden name)
-Grandmother's Irish passport and death certificate with 'Jones' (correct married surname)
-Grandmother marriage certificate - TWO seem to exist to my grandfather on the same day with both 'Smith' (correct) and 'Jones' (incorrect) maiden names - not sure why.
-Mother's birth certificate with 'Williams' listed as grandmother's maiden name (incorrect).
All other relevant documents are fine (my documents, etc).

Sorry if this is confusing! I'm just wondering if I can do anything? Will having her Irish passport help at all as it shows my grandmother was indeed Irish? Or do I need to somehow prove that my grandmother changed her name at some point? My mother's birth certificate is the only document that uses that surname (the very unique first/middle names are correct for my grandmother). To have used 'Williams' on my mother's birth certificate does this suggest she must have held this name legally (ie. deed pole)?

Any help would be really appreciated! There are no other family members who know anything, my grandmother was very secretive about so many things. Any questions let me know! Thank you.

[MickByNameAndNature]

Before applying I had a question about my grandfather's name being different on his birth certificate than his marriage and death. In my case it was his first name. He was named after his father, Bernard, with no middle name. All of his life he went by Brian but never legally changed it. Brian was on his marriage and death certificates. I wrote an email to the Irish Embassy and they advised just to include all information and if there were any questions, I would hear back.

Not the answer I was looking for, however without anything else to go on, I submitted my application with his birth name and there is a question that asks if they used any other names. That is where I put Brian. It asks if the change was by deed poll, which it wasn't, and then I believe it asked if I had included proof of the name being used. I said yes as I figured the two certificates would be proof.

The name difference was never questioned and the first I heard back was my certificate in the post. Mine is a bit of a different situation, but the bottom line is to submit all the paperwork that you have. Indicate as much as you can when filling out the application, and if need be, include a typewritten explanation with your documentation. If they have questions, they will contact you.

Good Luck,

Mick