Got a reply from the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh. The mother of my family actually gave a name for the father of their child and recorded it. I cannot find any trace of the “father” and strongly suspect it was borrowed or made up. Father’s name: Clinton DeWitt. Child’s name: Clinton DeWitt. Child went on to include his mother’s maiden name (Clifton) as his middle name.
So, I’ll leave the father’s data blank and include a note about it.
A variation from a “true name” I am using in a name field is for the surname in place of an unknown maiden name. If a woman has an unknown surname the field is blank, but if I know her married name, I give her the parenthetical surname of her husband, such as, “(McIntosh)”. It sorts at the top and gives me a clue of where she belongs and how I can get to what records I may have.
I don’t see it as disrespecting the person, and I don’t know where a blank surname is sorted, if displayed in a list at all. A first name search in the People List can be done with comma-space, as in, “, Alice”. But first names only are not listed.
Blank is great for unknowns, but what about those for which we have a clue?
Blank Surnames in RM’s index or lists will show up as with comma-space, as in, “, Alice”.—so it’s usually going to be at the very top of the list