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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 April 2024 and 11 June 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Sillygoose36 (article contribs).
I do find it very odd that this article uses "Doyle" rather than "Conan Doyle". So he's my breakdown of the arguments. The current argument in the article as its found at Arthur_Conan_Doyle#Name:
baptism certificate
There doesn't seem to be a proper reference for this. Regardless, this would only support his birth surname and not the one that he himself chose to use in adulthood.
"The catalogues of the British Library and the Library of Congress treat "Doyle" alone as his surname" (ref = Redmond 2009)
The same source directly precedes this sentence with "He always signed himself "A. Conan Doyle", which leaves doubt whether he considered "Conan" a given name or the first part of a compound surname. His father was simply "Doyle", but his children have been determinedly "Conan Doyle."" -- This suggests someone is cherry picking the source to say what they want it too and ignoring what is actually says.
"Sherlock Holmes for Dummies"
Is this considered a reliable source?
Entry in The London Gazette
The entry is given as "Arthur Conan Doyle, Esq., M.D., D.L." not "Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle". It is ordered by the D of Doyle, but is also missing one of his names.
(Alternative) sources for the uses of "Conan Doyle":
Note 1 in the article supports the double surname
Looking at the source, it uses "Conan Doyle" to refer to him and also states in the preface: "always take care to look under D for Doyle but also C for Conan Doyle, the compound surname he preferred"
The source being misused above: "signed himself "A. Conan Doyle", which leaves doubt whether he considered "Conan" a given name or the first part of a compound surname. [...] his children have been determinedly "Conan Doyle.""
The flow of this reads that Arthur is clearly using the compound surname vs the simple "Doyle" that he was born with.
His children have the surname Conan Doyle
Why would his children have a surname that he didn't use for himself? (only illegitimacy would have meant a different surname to your father in this time period)
His article with the Oxford Dictionary of National Biographyis titled "Doyle, Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan (1859–1930)" but he is referred to as "Conan Doyle" and even includes the helpful phrase, "Conan Doyle, as he became known", in the third paragraph.
The ONDB has top rating for source reliability vs something like Sherlock Holmes for Dummies
His grave stone lists his name as "Arthur Conan Doyle" and his wife's name as "Jean Conan Doyle"
Ergo, their married surname is "Conan Doyle" (unless she coincidentally had the same middle name as him already).
This is redolent of the Lloyd George case. Until his elevation to the peerage (when he became Lord Lloyd-George), his surname was simply George, Lloyd being his middle name, but he always referred to himself and was always referred to by others by his full name, David Lloyd George, or simply Lloyd George for short. The Lloyd was so inextricably associated in the public's mind with the George, that many probably thought that his surname was the unhyphenated double-barrelled "Lloyd George". But it wasn't. -- Jack of Oz[pleasantries]00:07, 16 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I just wanted to point-out that the subject of this article was actually a Scottish national by birth although he was content to be described as being British and was sometimes incorrectly described as being English. 82.38.214.91 (talk) 22:08, 13 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
level-4 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 April 2024 and 11 June 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Sillygoose36 (article contribs).
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