Thank you Peter for this, but the problem in a broader scope is finding the reasons why people would use more than one name, in order to determine their true identity.  This is another facet of a larger research project.
  Two, for the specific question I posed - of a deed witnessed by Jno Hudson allias John Leverett, the allias appears to link two different people, probably related by marriage.  I think what I need is a legal answer.  The deed was written by Capt. John Scott of Long Island.  John Leverett lived in Boston and I am trying to trace the migration and family of John Hudson who was of Boston and I think Long Island.  My even more specific question was is this John Hudson the father of Jonathan Hudson of Southold, NY.  Two descendants, it has been pointed out to me, were brothers named John Leverett Hudson, (one died young).  John Leverett was the governor of Mass.

Honor

>>> Peter Kalamarides <[log in to unmask]> 01/06/03 12:40PM >>>
This thread has gone on for a week or more and no one seems to have
bothered to look in a standard dictionary to see what the word means.
Why?

 Here is what Merriam-Webster says:




                        Main Entry: alias

                        Function: adverb
                        Etymology: Latin, otherwise, from alius other --
more at ELSE
                        Date: 15th century
                        : otherwise called : otherwise known as

Note the date on the adverbial use of the word in English.

Also:


                        Main Entry: alias
                        Function: noun
                        Date: 1605
                        : an assumed or additional name

That's all.  Just an assumed or additional name.  No motives, such as
criminality,  are implied with the use of the word.  Many e-mail
addresses use aliases, for example.