Originally posted by favell44
It is not uncommon to know only a given name for women (particularly). I have been calling such people Mary UNKNOWN (say). Is this accepted practice or is there a more common convention?
Thanks for any advice,
Tony
People with unknown last name
-
Keith Wilson
- Site Admin
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:12 pm
-
Keith Wilson
- Site Admin
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:12 pm
People with unknown last name
Some of the options are:
Mary
Mary ?
Mary Unknown
Mary (BLACKWOOD) where BLACKWOOD is her married name
Mary (spouse of John BLACKWOOD)
The husband's name as in Mary (BLACKWOOD) is useful when using a list such as the People Index or in a report.
Keith
Mary
Mary ?
Mary Unknown
Mary (BLACKWOOD) where BLACKWOOD is her married name
Mary (spouse of John BLACKWOOD)
The husband's name as in Mary (BLACKWOOD) is useful when using a list such as the People Index or in a report.
Keith
-
Keith Wilson
- Site Admin
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:12 pm
People with unknown last name
Originally posted by NigelRichman
Hi Tony,
I tend to use
Mary Unknown (John Blackwood)
and I use <alt Space> to provide no breaking spaces in the longer SURNAME. This way, it all show up in a listing or view.
I use the UNKNOWN starter to get the alphabetic listing with all the unknowns in one place so I can pick one to investigate further as time allows.
As with many things it depends on how you wish to use the info after entry as to which is the best way to enter it.
Nigel
Hi Tony,
I tend to use
Mary Unknown (John Blackwood)
and I use <alt Space> to provide no breaking spaces in the longer SURNAME. This way, it all show up in a listing or view.
I use the UNKNOWN starter to get the alphabetic listing with all the unknowns in one place so I can pick one to investigate further as time allows.
As with many things it depends on how you wish to use the info after entry as to which is the best way to enter it.
Nigel
-
Keith Wilson
- Site Admin
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:12 pm
People with unknown last name
Missing Surnames
When a person's surname is not known then there is a major advantage in including the spouse's name (in brackets) as follows:
When doing a merge from one database to another (or even within one database) then having a family name to match makes life a lot easier for the software. For instance, to compare and match two people the software usually looks for a match on Full Name + Birth + Death. If this results in multiple choices then the next step is to compare the place of birth and near relatives such as parents and children. A simple name like " Mary" or " ??" or " Unknown" does not really give the comparison functions much to work on, especially when there are many occurrences of " Unknown" in the database. When you enter " Unknown" for the person's name then the birth and death information is usually also missing.
So if you know that Mary was married to John Blackwood then I suggest that you standardise on using the convention " Mary (BLACKWOOD)" rather than just entering " Mary" or " Mary Unknown" or " Mary ?"
Place Names
Unless you live in a country that issues you with an ID number, the government and immigration officials generally ask you for your full name, birth date and place of birth. With that information they generally have a pretty good idea of who you are. The same rule applies in a genealogy application. For place names please remember that there is more than one place in the world called Kent - I suggest that you always add the state and country as well, e.g Kent, SA, Australia or Kent, England, UK and there are many more places called Kent in USA, refer to Wikipedia - Kent. Adding the state and country also gives Google Maps a fighting chance of finding the correct location.
Keith
When a person's surname is not known then there is a major advantage in including the spouse's name (in brackets) as follows:
When doing a merge from one database to another (or even within one database) then having a family name to match makes life a lot easier for the software. For instance, to compare and match two people the software usually looks for a match on Full Name + Birth + Death. If this results in multiple choices then the next step is to compare the place of birth and near relatives such as parents and children. A simple name like " Mary" or " ??" or " Unknown" does not really give the comparison functions much to work on, especially when there are many occurrences of " Unknown" in the database. When you enter " Unknown" for the person's name then the birth and death information is usually also missing.
So if you know that Mary was married to John Blackwood then I suggest that you standardise on using the convention " Mary (BLACKWOOD)" rather than just entering " Mary" or " Mary Unknown" or " Mary ?"
Place Names
Unless you live in a country that issues you with an ID number, the government and immigration officials generally ask you for your full name, birth date and place of birth. With that information they generally have a pretty good idea of who you are. The same rule applies in a genealogy application. For place names please remember that there is more than one place in the world called Kent - I suggest that you always add the state and country as well, e.g Kent, SA, Australia or Kent, England, UK and there are many more places called Kent in USA, refer to Wikipedia - Kent. Adding the state and country also gives Google Maps a fighting chance of finding the correct location.
Keith