We had a great class on Thursday by Virginia  Majewski about naming patterns. Some of the patterns I knew from past learning such as prefixes and suffixes that are son and daughter specific and that first sons were given the father’s name and first daughters the mother’s name in some cultures and down the line. There were similar patterns is other cultures. Anyone who has done much family history has run into the same name issue. How many Samuel Vance’s are there? Names honoring grandparents, uncles, previously born children who passed away, etc.

All of this reminded me that first we must slow down! We have had this discussion before. It is not about collecting names but about collecting stories so we need to slow down and look carefully at the people behind those names and make sure we have the right ones and all the information we can find about them. That includes looking at all the various ways a name may be spelled.

When we go back a few years, spelling may not have been as important, ancestors may not have known how to spell their own name if they even had a surname. So much history just in that piece alone and then add the given name patterns and how they were selected.

All of this is to say my family surname may have been Hartzell (which is my maiden name) but just in my little bit of family history I have seen Hertzell, Hartsel, Hirsel, etc. As our speaker said, just because it is spelled the same doesn’t mean they are related and just because they are spelled differently doesn’t mean they are not related. This means we need to research all the options. Then we have to figure out how it might be spelled that we haven’t seen yet or what the spelling could mean.

She gave us 4 research concepts to consider. 1) What was the history where and when they lived that might have affected the name they used or how it was spelled? 2) How might the name have sounded in their language and to the people they were speaking it to? 3) Don’t make assumptions, instead do the research and 4) Embrace diversity – learn how to use advanced genealogy to search using a variety of spellings and symbols.

So much here and I didn’t give you many details. The simple take-away: slow down, think about all the possible names (spelling, pronunciation, meanings), learn about the history of the time and the location and research it all! Isn’t family history FUN! I hope you like history!!

Just as we start to understand names, we head to “Dutch Records.”  I bet that naming pattern issue shows up again. Then a couple of new and interesting topics, “WikiTree” and “Exploring the Community: Researching Beyond Your Ancestor.”  Look on the website for all the upcoming classes.  Don’t miss any of them.
 
Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com