Same recipient, multiple entries (Contacts)

[macstatic]

What can I do about a person appearing multiple times in the Contacts app?
Let's say I have an entry (card) named "John Doe" and another one named "Grandpa" (both obviously with the same phone number and other contact info). Each entry belongs in a separate group.
The problem is that within the Mail app, Messages or whatever the name "Grandpa" might come up when I would like it to display "John Doe" instead. Is there anything I can do about this?

I guess as a last resort I could export the son's phone contacts group (File-Export-Export Vcard) for backup purposes, then delete that group with its contacts in the Contacts app, resulting in only one entry for "John Doe".

 

[barbu]

You can use nicknames. I assume from your post that Grandpa and John are one and the same? Modify the John Doe card to fill out the nickname field. Am I misunderstanding what you are trying to do?

 

[Brian33]

If Grandpa and John are the same person, it seems to me there should be only one Contacts card. It can be put into two different groups. (I tested it on my Mac -- however I was unable to figure out how to remove it from a group, as I'm afraid Delete will just delete the card and dragging didn't work! Hmmmm.)

Or, maybe the OP means Grandpa and John are two different people with the same address and shared phone number?

 

[mk313]

There is a Look for duplicates option in Contacts. It will merge multiple contacts into one, but I'm not sure of the exact criteria used to match them.

 

[macstatic]

"Grandpa" and "John" are indeed the same person with the same phone number, but created on two different phones (each phone a different owner, hence one person naming the card "Grandpa" and the other one calling this card "John"). Both cards are in my Contacts app because I've synced both phones to this Mac.

I didn't find any field called Nickname in Contacts -where should it be?

The problem with all of this is that in such situations, with messages in the Messages app) received from this number, apparently the alphabetically first name (Grandpa) will be displayed instead of "John". Is the only solution to delete the "Grandpa" card or is there a way I can choose which name to be displayed?

 

[Brian33]

I didn't find any field called Nickname in Contacts -where should it be?

I think you need to add it to your "template," as it may not be one of the default fields. On a Mac, go to Contact's preferences, Template tab, and "Add Field".

Is the only solution to delete the "Grandpa" card or is there a way I can choose which name to be displayed?

I'm not aware of any way to choose which name should be displayed if two cards have the same phone number and/or email address.

 

[NoBoMac]

Need to start using Family Sharing to separate others' contacts.

 

[macstatic]

Thanks NoBoMac, I'll look into that.