Geni Forum » Genealogy » Surnames
female naming standards per genealogists
(94 posts)-
When women are entered into genealogical records the maiden name is always used. The relationships through marriage will show the married name. This is especially important when a woman is married multiple times. Obviously searches should be able to be done on both maiden and married names but the main records should be entered with the maiden name first.
Posted 4 months ago # -
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Fill inn both fields, but don't fall into the general fault assuming that she used her husbands name. If you don't have proofs for that, use the maiden name in the last name field too.
In general I never fill in the husbands name in her last name field, unless it is a living person that insists on that her selves or she is best known using his name.
I follow the rule of using the name used in the first source, because that is their personal identity, and all problems with multiple marriages and what name to use does not exist.
When it comes to how to display a name, using caps for example: Use initial caps, and let the users decide how to display the tree by adjusting their personal settings.
Posted 4 months ago # -
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Different cultures have differnet norms as far as female identity is concerned. From where I come from, it varies from region to region. in some region there are no surnames. Sones adopt the father's first name as his surname and his sun will then adopt his fathers first name as his surname. Wife will ofcouse adopt her husband's first name as her surname while before she had her fathe's first name as her surname.
In some areas, A family will choose a house name and all members of the house will use that name as a surname, while having a common cast or tribe name.
Then in some ther's a family name, which is the surname from generation to generation. The female will take the husband's surname as her's after marriage.
Divorce, Widow re-marriage is very rare (but changing) so the surname remains. Reverting back to maiden name is even rarer. However if a re-marriage takes place the woman/wife will adopt the new surname.
The original suggestion is a righ one, Brox is not wrong in what he says. But geni being a tree that encompass the whole world and has no boundries. It must be flexible enough to cater to these nuances.
I would suggest an aka "Also known as" field, much like the stand alone pc family tree software I use as my permanent family tree maker. Several aliases are allowe. Similarly Geni should allow several aka's and it shuld be searchable. And when a profile is found the name and the desplay name should be displayed in bold and the aka in smaller fonts just below.
Posted 4 months ago # -
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Agree, we should have multiple name fields with optional time range.
The principle I follow for using current fields is what I could call "Born As" and in some special cases "Best Known As", but in general mostly "Born As" and use the "Display Name" field for "Best Known As", especially if it includes titles, and put every variant into the "Nick Names" field.
Using the "Born As" principle solves most problems.
On some royals I have used the timeline for pinpointing time periods for titles, like Price from xxxx-yyyy, King from yyyy-zzzz, and you can use the same method for time-limited names like married name.
Posted 4 months ago # -
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In the nickname field I add all names in full (i.e. Laura Ingram, Laura Schwartz, etc.), even married-names that were never used , and in the "About Laura" field I'd elaborate about the names.
In other words, I treat the nickname field as a keyword/tag field.
I always display a female in her original maiden name, for structure purposes.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I think I am a violator of this maiden name stuff.. I have, shall we say, chauvinistically, assumed women take the man's name where, maybe, I don't always have the proof. :S
But I think many outlying and distant preliminary research I have done will need to be gone over again when time allows, so hopefully I will fix what might be wrong.
However, I do think one should always fill it out CORRECTLY, in that if you have proof of the woman changing her name, don't write her maiden name as her last name because that would be *wrong*. It also prevents people from properly using the options for display maiden name, etc. I think all data should be provided accurately and then only the *views* should be changed.
Of course, I say all this after admitting I have, in some cases, done it wrong the other way. :(
Posted 4 months ago # -
Some of us have suggested the ability to display name changes during a person's lifetime (with no limit on the number of name changes) I still think that that's what should be done - and then using the fields properly as Mattt has said
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But all these names must be searchable - if not in the standard search at least in the advance search - and all results should lead to the same person.
The present search criteria is limited to just the first name and/or last name feild and for the results turn up everyone with either the first name or last name match
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By and large its still the norm in US and UK for the lady to take her husband's surname eg. Margaret Tacher, and so did the spice girl who married to the footballer - sorry i can't get his/her name. excluding the rich and famous and the live in the trend among the general folks is still traditional. If and when you are sure that the person prefers her maiden name then change it by all means. There are lots of people adding profiles into the tree and most are still using the traditional husbands surname. This should and will lessen the merge issues. I'm sure the profilee will if she is a member will edit and make the correction or ask for the correction.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Most Hispanic women don't lose their father's last name, but let's not get into a whole discussion on that. I agree we need to revisit the name fields, but until we do I have been using only maiden names unless it's someone I know conclusively used her husband's last name.
Posted 4 months ago # -
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Victoria Adams (aka Posh Spice) married David Beckham, who now plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy. They're all the rage here in L.A. :-)
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yeah that's right she's now called victoria Beckham and very rarely victoria Adams. So I feel its best that the traditional way a name should be despayed with the maiden name in Brackets like it is now.
But its upto each user to decide what's best for him and no hard and fast rule should be employed. Geni is used by ppl of different cultures. Amom the Arab Muslims, the wife does not give up her father's name and adopt her husband's name she will simply be called Mrs. XYZ Al Whatever wife of Mr. Ahmed Al Anyname.
There are some communities where it's matriarchal. and its the man who adopts that name. To each his own. This is a one size does not fit all situation.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Personally, I put her maiden name in the maiden name field, her husband's name in the last name field (and sometimes I will dash husband 1-husband2- huband3 (sometimes all you know is their married name.
I then use the Nickname field for nicknames, be it one or many.
BUt I would still like to see us able to record multiple name changes.. this would be useful in many cultures, and fun in many others as you see things like the nickname change.
As to WHAT should properly go in her last name field, without proof to the contrary, the cultural standard of where she lived. (and the abilty to show the MAN changed his name to his lady's as well)Saroline - ...most HIspanic women... I'm thinking, if you search hard enough, we had a thread on that topic; not just the Hispanic, but various cultures and how they altered the names.
Posted 4 months ago # -
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Stick to the birth name and you don't get these problems.
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The rules about using last name in all uppercase (which is shouting in computer terminology) is obsolete today when using computers where you have options to display a name in uppercase or not.
In the previous century may me, and as the article says: "This provides easy scanning on pedigree charts and family group sheets" the rule was a result of stone-age technology, and therefore obsolete today.
Posted 4 months ago # -
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I'd like to strongly support using maiden names for women. Sure, for living people, feel free to enter their actual last name as the last name, and put the maiden name in the maiden name field. But for everybody else, please put in the name she was born with.
I'm so tired of seeing people trying to apply the norm of getting the husband's last name to people who lived hundreds of years ago. It is messy and misleading. Even more so when the husband has a Scandinavian patronymic name. If Leif was the son of Frode, his last name might have been Frodesen og Frodesson. But his wife would never ever (before the 1800s at least) have the last name of Frodesen og Frodesson, because she wasn't the son of Frode. Implying that she was just messes things up. We'd like to know who she was the daughter of, duh, and that would have been her last name.
Again, we're talking genealogy. Leif Frodesen's wife might very well have been known as nothing but "Leif Frodesen's wife" in her time. But that's useless in tracing her genealogy.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Shouldn't we stick to the facts then in any case? I have long dead relatives who definitely changed their last names and putting in the maiden name would be incorrect, since they were documented as dying under their new name.
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Well, the main fact question is: what should a genealogy record be a time-related snapshot of?
The name and status when she was born, in the middle of life, or when she died?
They are all facts.I have several women in my tree that remarried and took her new husbands name in her last year(s) of life, and it would be an insult to her children if their fathers names was wiped out of the history and so on, so I stick to the birth name.
The only fact that is timeless correct is the name she got by birth.
To repeat my complicated statement: The principle I follow for using current fields is what I could call "Born As" and in some special cases "Best Known As", but in general mostly "Born As" and use the "Display Name" field for "Best Known As", especially if it includes titles, and put every variant into the "Nick Names" field.
In general I never fill in the husbands name in her last name field, unless it is a living person that insists on that her selves or she is best known using his name.
May be Geni could go the google-historical map route: Have time-stamped names, select a year and show the relatives living that year, location and their current name.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I believe that if we were to record a lady only by her maiden name then we are negating any husbands and children whereas by recording her by most recent surname, formerly and Nee then all the bases are covered and you also stand more chance of connecting with others researching linked families if all the names are recorded. For instance if in years to come my family continue the family tree they will record me by my current name, my former name and my maiden name. I have daughters from both marriages so would not wish to just ignore either of my married names. Similarly I wouldn't dream of not recording my mother with both my step father and my father. Just because someone lived 100 years ago doesn't change any of this.
Posted 4 months ago #
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