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Ancestry Daily News
10/15/2002 - Archive
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First Names: Problems Old and New |
First Names: Problems Old and New
My own name is a good example of how first names can cause problems
in genealogical research. Everyone knows me as Sherry but you will not find
it on my birth certificate or any other official record. My proper name is Charlotte
and how I came to be something else, right from birth, is another story. A lot
of our ancestors had nicknames, it is one of the name problems you have been
warned about.
There are other names, equally well known. A first name might also be a perfectly
good surname and so the indexer puts the entry in the wrong part of the alphabet
(e.g., Russell Eliot sounds equally good forwards or backwards). Short, or pet
forms of common names are another difficulty. Is Polly a short form for Margaret?
Hal for Henry? Often such pet names were the actual given name and not a short
form at all. My uncle Val, named after his own uncle, Valentine, was baptized
William Val.
A search may fail because we think we know the name of an ancestor but the form
of it, recorded by a minister, churchwarden or clerk, was different. Those working
in early English documents would do well to keep The Record Interpreter
(C.T. Martin, 1902 and 1982) by their side.
A search can be helped by watching the use of first names. They go in or out
of fashion and come and go in church registers. Mary is not in every parish
all the time and improbable names become 'the rage' when and where you least
expect it. I anticipated an easy search for a Samson only to discover it was
a remarkably common name for a time in one part of Cornwall.
Now, in 2002, yet another layer of first name problems is added to the ones
you already face. It is necessary to understand how the creators of electronic
databases have decided to handle first names, both in the search and in the
results.
To highlight the point and alert you to the potential problems I am going to
summarize the first name 'rules' for four online databases for English research:
the International Genealogical Index (IGI) at FamilySearch, the 1901 census
index at the PRO, FreeBMD at Rootsweb, and the Genealogy Index at the Gloucester
Record Office.
The IGI is programmed to look for first name variants and to add middle names.
If you enter Thomas in the first name slot the search engine produces Thomas,
Thos and Tho, as well as Thomas plus a middle name.
At Free BMD you consult an ever-growing index to English and Welsh births, marriages,
and deaths. Volunteers are transcribing the volumes of indexes issued by the
General Register Office since registration began in 1837. The search page allows
you to enter one or more first names and choose whether or not to put a tick
in a small box. Do so and you are selecting 'exact match'; a note warns that
'unless this box is checked we will search for the first names that start with
the characters given.' In other words, if you type in Thomas and neglect to
click the box not only will you get Thos, Tho, etc., you will get all other
first names beginning with T. Not a good idea at all if the last name is Smith!
The 1901 Census site is more flexible. It permits the use of wild cards; an
asterisk substitutes for one or more letters and an underline for one single
letter. On the Advanced Search page you may indicate whether or not you want
the search engine to look for synonyms for a name; if you select this you can
still use wild card symbols. I tried a search for Tom Ridout at the basic person
search page and got one result; changing to Thomas, I got five. Using the advanced
search and with synonyms 'on,' all six results appeared. So, be careful about
short forms that start differently than the full name.
The Gloucestershire Record Office has a database derived from several sources
including wills, jail (gaol) records, and some nonconformist baptisms. There
is no indication in the search guidelines as to how first names are treated,
but experience soon indicates that the search engine will look for longer forms;
i.e., enter the letter 'F' and it finds Francis, Frank, Frederick, etc. On the
other hand, if you enter Frederick it will not find related shorter forms such
as Fred'k.
The forms found among these four free databases are by no means all that exist.
The subscription and pay-per-view databases present other variations. The danger
lies in failing to familiarize yourself with what works and transferring what
you are accustomed doing at one site to another. The unwary may very well miss
important entries. So, in addition to remaining aware of the old familiar first
name traps, it is now necessary to be prepared for the grab bag of search rules
in electronic databases.
One parting thought—some of these databases permit you to search on first name
alone. It is worth testing. I am on the way to solving a long-standing mystery
because FreeBMD allowed me to search for 'Hagar' and no surname. There were
just a few hundred to browse through and they revealed a completely unknown
marriage of this woman.
International Genealogical Index
www.familysearch.org
1901 Census
www.census.pro.gov.uk/
Gloucestershire Genealogical Index:
www.gloscc.gov.uk/pubserv/gcc/corpserv/archives/genealogy.htm
FreeBMD
http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ancestry.com's UK and Ireland Records Collection is growing
at a rapid pace and will soon include images of U.K. census records from 1841-91.
A portion of the 1891 Census is already available to UK and Ireland subscribers
at:
www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=D6598
To subscribe, just go to:
www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?sourceid=831&targetid=3345
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry
for thirty years. She is an instructor and study tour leader for Samford University's
IGHR, and teaches for the online family history program of Vermont College.
Sherry is President of the Association of Professional Genealogists. She is
the author of:
Your Scottish Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans
www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=P1046
Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans
www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=P1045
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