Nicknames & aliases

[Keith Wilson]

Originally posted by rbarkman

Many of my ancestors do not use their first name, or are known by a nickname that may bear no resemblance to their real name. This causes some confusion when I do reports - for example, a report on my great uncle that I produced for a cousin calls him Cecil all the way through when the world knew him as Ginger, and it just looks odd.

It would be nice to have a " Known As" field that would allow me to record these things, and an option to use the Known As name when producing reports. I notice that some GEDCOMs I've imported have a field such as INDI.NAME._AKA, so other apps must have this concept. At present, the best I can do is put the alias in quotes in front of the true name, which means the report contains the name in quotes throughout. That is a reasonable workaround. However, it makes it difficult to merge entries from other databases, since the names do not match - I have to edit the name first, then merge, then change the name back. It's usually easier to just transcribe the data, but then I run the risk of transcription errors.

Reports should use the full name & alias the first time a person is mentioned, e.g. " Cecil 'Ginger' JOHNSTON" , and the alias thereafter, e.g. " Ginger's Children:" . There should be an option to put quotes around the alias or not - people may prefer it either way.

[Keith Wilson]

Many of my ancestors do not use their first name, or are known by a nickname that may bear no resemblance to their real name. This causes some confusion when I do reports - for example, a report on my great uncle that I produced for a cousin calls him Cecil all the way through when the world knew him as Ginger, and it just looks odd.

It would be nice to have a " Known As" field that would allow me to record these things, and an option to use the Known As name when producing reports. I notice that some GEDCOMs I've imported have a field such as INDI.NAME._AKA, so other apps must have this concept. At present, the best I can do is put the alias in quotes in front of the true name, which means the report contains the name in quotes throughout. That is a reasonable workaround. However, it makes it difficult to merge entries from other databases, since the names do not match - I have to edit the name first, then merge, then change the name back. It's usually easier to just transcribe the data, but then I run the risk of transcription errors.

Reports should use the full name & alias the first time a person is mentioned, e.g. " Cecil 'Ginger' JOHNSTON" , and the alias thereafter, e.g. " Ginger's Children:" . There should be an option to put quotes around the alias or not - people may prefer it either way.

The iFamily database does include a field that can contain multiple aliases and nicknames, but it has never been implemented. One of the difficulties is that a person's nickname/alias changes over time and it should logically be entered as an Event For instance a person may have different nicknames at school, university, in his/her job, in family situations. He/she may also have different nicknames/aliases at church, on the golf course or at the local watering hole.

My preference is to enter the nickname in parentheses, i.e. (Wazza) as a middle name because in genealogy research we are really interested in the birth name so we can trace back another generation - the person's nickname(s) is a secondary fact rather than a primary fact.

Keith

[Keith Wilson]

Originally posted by rbarkman

I accept the point that 'known as' names are not directly relevant for strict genealogical purposes, but they are relevant when producing reports, particularly when they are people who are known to the recipient of the report. And it is not just people who have nicknames - for example, I am known by my middle name and always have been, since my first name is one that I was given for the sake of tradition and not because my parents ever intended to use it. So, any report that includes me will refer to me by a name that no-one will recognise.

In any case, putting the alias into the Name field still causes the difficulty in merging database entries.

[Keith Wilson]

In any case, putting the alias into the Name field still causes the difficulty in merging database entries.

Thanks for a great idea.

When comparing names in a merge function iFamily could/should strip out any words that are contained within quotes or within parentheses before comparing the people's names. I will see if I can implement it without it being confusing.

Keith

[Keith Wilson]

Originally posted by Myriam D

As I have mulltiple cases of people changing names in the course of their life, I hope for a speedy implementation of the stripping of quotes and/or parentheses.
This could also solve my problem with nobility titles, although a title in parentheses looks clumsy. Titles should not only be seen as events but also as prefixes pure and simple.

In any case, Keith deserves kudos for listening to users.

[Keith Wilson]

Originally posted by hib

When comparing names in a merge function iFamily could/should strip out any words that are contained within quotes or within parentheses before comparing the people's names. I will see if I can implement it without it being confusing.

Keith

I like this idea of ignoring all names in quotes or parentheses. Please just make sure you do both. I prefer to use () for nicknames and the like but sometimes data from other sources use quotes (which I usually try to convert over to parens).

Thanks for listening.

Al

[Keith Wilson]

Originally posted by curriouscat

Keith,
I'm now finding several cases of people who change their names completely - Charles Windsor also known as James Connell.

[Keith Wilson]

Keith,
I'm now finding several cases of people who change their names completely - Charles Windsor also known as James Connell.

V2.457 - added a field in the Individual's Pane for Also Known As (AKA). You can use it for any alternative Alias, Nickname, Married name, ....

Keith

[rbarkman]

Any chance that the search function could look at that AKA field as well as other names? Also, a reporting option to use it rather than the normal first name in reports?

Cheers,
Ross