הקדמה

Genealogy is defined as: the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. One of the biggest elements in the tracing of a family history is a “family name”, therefore recording names is a very important part of tracing a family history. Unfortunately, very often the names we find are incomplete or simply incorrect, but as genealogists we must evaluate the given information, record the information properly, then continue on with our next research project.

Let us use the webtrees database interface to begin to become comfortable with entering names. It is important as the data administrator of the system to establish standards for your system regarding the entry of all information and in particular name, dates, sources and notes. Fortunately for us, experts in the area of genealogy have establish standards and guidelines for us to follow and where ever possible we should try to follow them. One of these standards is the LDS developed GEDCOM standard which via an evolving set of documents produced a standard way of transferring genealogical data from one computer system to another. This document does not dwell long with this standard, however this document will refer to the standard from time to time.

הבסיס

If you have created a new webtrees database without loading information from another software product you are left with a nearly empty database. Nearly empty because one person was added for you as a starting point for your new database. This person is named “John Doe“. John is probably not a member of you family, although he and his wife Jane had drivers licenses, but I think they change their names at some point to Joe and Jane Citizen. We will talk about name changes later. So if John is not part of your family you should navigate to his entry and enter the name of the person were you want to start you tree. The data entry flow for webtrees is designed to allow you to build a tree based a single person, then branch away from that person by adding parents and children. In general, genealogy research mirrors this flow, start with someone we know and learn about their next closest relatives. We will see later a way to enter a person outside of this flow.

שינוי שם

To change John Doe’s name to the subject of our genealogy, follow these illustrated steps:

1. Navigate to the Individual List
2. Select “D”
3. Select “Doe”
4. Select “Doe, John”
5. Select “Edit=>Edit Name”
6. Make changes to the name and “Save”

After completing the name change you are ready to go. I would suggest entering any additional information you know about this individual such as birth date and gender. Adding this information will be covered in other pages on this Wiki.

בסיסי: שם משפחה

Learning is always easier when the teacher uses a story to illustrate how to do things. Our ancestors before learning how to write, used stories to teach members of their tribes about the world around them and this tutorial will be no different. We will follow along with a story that hopefully parallels some of the data entry procedures you will be performing in you own database.

“In a distant galaxy, far far away …”, lived Luke Skywalker a moister farmer on the planet Tatooine. Luke lived with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru whom we assume have adopted Luke. In a previous narrative we outlined how to change the name of an individual, in that case the name of the individual was set to “Luke Skywalker“. Let us add Owen and Beru Lars as Luke’s parents with the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Luke Skywalker record
2. Using the “Relatives“ tab, select “Add a new father”
3. Add Luke’s adopted father’s name.
   Note: The system carries up to the father “Skywalker” as his surname. One of the setup parameters for this database uses “paternal” naming standards, this is a configurable option.
4. Change Owen’s surname to Lars
5. Select “Save” which takes you back to Luke.
   Note: “Save and go” takes you to Owen.
6. Select “Add a new mother”
7. Add mothers name.
8. Enter mother’s “Given” name.
9. Enter “Lars” as Beru’s married Surname.
   Note: Because at this time we are assuming that Beru took her husbands last name we may not know her birth name. Genealogist normally record an individuals birth or earliest name as the primary name. However, this is your database so it is your decision.
   Also Note: For all we know Lars is Beru’s surname and Owen took this name at their marriage.
10. Press “Save”

We have entered a basic family structure and learned a few advanced features of webtrees name entry.

Let us review what we have entered.

1. Setup Luke Skywalker record by changing the initially added first individual of the database.
2. Set up two parents for Luke.

Advanced features learned.

1. Primary Name Change: Sometimes the primary name of an individual is “just wrong”.
2. Paternal naming standard: A configurable option set by the site administrator which always carry the father’s surname forward to the children.
3. Married Surname: Used to capture a name for individuals that change their surname after becoming married. We will learn a more advance method later in this document for entering married names.

Adding potential family members outside the current structure

In the Star Wars story line, early on we begin to think that Princess Leia may be related to Luke Skywalker in some unknown way. This is very similar to cases in our own families were we may see in a local census the name of someone who is living with a family that gives us the impression that they may be related. At the time of discovery we want to add them to the database but can not connect them to any current structures. Database administrators at their discretion have the ability to “Add an unlinked person” to the system. This option can be found within the “family trees” menu option. Adding the Princess is very similar to the way other individuals are added to the database. The only difference to be noted is that we are entering “Princess” in the “Name Prefix”. Name prefixes are generally values that are placed on a person at birth like Princess or Prince. However, some suggest that it is also appropriate to enter other designations such as Dr. or Admiral.

Note: Surnames can also have prefixes such as (la, von, de) as well as suffixes such as (Sr, Jr, III). A selectable list is provided below the data field to help you enter one of the more common values quickly.(this list removed from webtrees 1.3.2 onward)

Advanced features learned.

1. Name Prefixes and Suffixes, selection list

Renames and alternate names

Star Wars tells us from the beginning about Darth Vader. If we had included his name (as well as other members of the movie cast) in our webtrees genealogy, by the end of the 3rd movie (episode VI) we found out that Darth Vader is an alias for Anakin Skywalker, the real father of Luke and Leia Skywalker. These new facts require us to change some basic information about the people we have entered.

For Darth Vader we have a couple of choices regarding the recording of this information. The first and simplest is to replace the name “Darth Vader” with Anakin Skywalker (see the John Doe change for details) and then record Darth Vader as an AKA (also known as) name. An alternate choice for recording Skywalker and Vader will be covered shortly.

The results of this change occur in three places:

1. Individual Page shows name and aka
2. Under, Individual List => “S” => “Skywalker” we see both Skywalker, Anakin (bold) and Vader, Darth (normal) so you can see Anakin’s alternate name.
3. Under, Individual List => “V” => “Vader” we see both Vader, Darth (bold) Skywalker, Anakin (normal) and so you can find Darth Vader if you only know his alias.

Princess Leia can be saved in the same way using aka to support her adopted surname Organa. For many genealogy software products this is the only alternative for recording multiple names for an individual. In general you only have a primary name, a married name and an aka name. One of the biggest drawbacks of using aka and married names in association with the primary name is that the recording individual can not provide additional information in conjunction with the aka or married name, such as, source information, notes, or media. To fully record the information the recording individual must find an alternate way to store the data.

The GEDCOM standard provides a way to do this, that is fully supported by webtrees. This procedure , however, may not be supported by other software products if you intend on transferring your genealogy database away from webtrees.

In the GEDCOM standard the name entered first for an individual is considered “the primary name”. To make a new name the primary name you must change the old primary name to the new primary name. We also learn at this time that Leia has a middle name “Amidala”, so we will enter that as well.

1. Follow the procedure outline earlier to change Leia’s surname from Organa to Skywalker and also remove the “Princess” designation.
2. Add “Amidala” following Leia.
3. Save Leia Amidala Skywalker.
4. Select (Main Menu) “Edit => Add New Name”
5. Enter Princess Leia Amidala Organa as a “New Name”
6. Enter a “Type” of “adopted” if the feature is available.
7. Save

This exercise also gives us the opportunity to re-examine the information we entered for Beru Lars as married name. We could add a new name and use a TYPE of “married”. The GEDCOM standard allows for TYPE values of “aka”, married, birth, and more, as well as, “User Defined”, please note, the TYPE value should be all lower case, see page 56. An interesting use would be an emigration or immigration name, stage name, legal name change etc. Whatever values used here should be kept simple and standard. An important point, these values are not translated by webtrees, so site visitors using another language may not understand the value.

Advanced features learned.

1. Using AKA sub-tag for an alias/alternate name
2. Adding additional names
3. Using the “TYPE” tag

Nicknames and Preferred Names

How many time have you run into documents that call someone in your family by the name “Rusty” or “Butch”. Or where a family uses and reuses the same given name over and over, even within the same household. Keeping these people straight and entering them into webtrees can be a little easier if you know some basic tricks.

Nicknames

For example: Marion Mitchell Morrison did not care very much for the first name of “Marion” so he began using “Duke” as a nickname. Until his death everyone called him “Duke Morrison”.

To record his name in webtrees, enter:

1. Marion Mitchell in the “Given names” field
2. Morrison in the “Surname” field
3. Duke in the “Nickname” field

Whenever this individual is displayed his name will read: Marion Mitchell “Duke” Morrison

Preferred Names

For example: Ludvig Andreas Monroe was the first son born to Ludvig Casparsen and Anne Monroe. Ludvig is an important name in this family so the second son born was named Ludvig Martin Monroe. Both sons went by their 2nd given name so they were not confused with their father.

To record this concept in webtrees, enter:

1. Ludvig Andreas in the “Given names” field
2. Monroe in the “Surname” field
3. place a single asterisk “*” following the preferred name, (for example: Ludvig Andreas*)

Whenever this individual is displayed, his name will read: Ludvig Andreas Monroe

Advanced features learned

1. Use the nickname field to record a nickname for an individual
2. Enter an asterisk (*) following the preferred name of an individual

Family Name Spelling Differences and Gender-Sensitive Surnames

Every genealogist has a story where a family member moves to a new country and the spelling of their surname is changed, either because the new country has a language that does not support the same alphabet or the relocating individual can not read or write and depends on the registrar to enter their name in the registry. So what do you do with an individual that leaves their country with one surname like Svendsen, Drurey, Maïquez, and they enter the new country and receive the name Svenson, Drury, Maiquez. webtrees has an answer. Before we solve this problem, you need to ask yourself, do I want to categorize individuals only under the original family name (ie Svendsen) only or under both the original family name and the new “taken” name.

According to GEDCOM specs, the NAME field (as displayed in the “Name” field on the user interface) contains the person’s name (as they would have written it), while the SURN field (as displayed in the “Surname” field on the user interface) contains the surname (or a comma-separated list of surnames), as specified by the genealogist. For most people, these two fields contain the same surname value, and so the name editor links them all together. But, you can unlink them, and edit the fields separately. In order to group variant spellings of a last name together, do the following:

1. Click the edit icon at the end of the Name. You can now edit NAME/SURN independently.
2. Update the Surname field with the name (or names) under which you want the person sorted/grouped/indexed.

For example: When Hans Solo was born his family name was Solow (I made that up!), but the recording government offical wrote the name Solo in his records. The rest of his family are still named Solow, but because all official government documents are based on the birth name recorded, the pilot license for Hans uses “Solo” not Solow. To group his name with the rest of his family, update the Surname field (leaving the Name field as Hans /Solo/) with the family spelling of “Solow”. Hans will now be listed as a name within the Solow list, but with his offical pilot name “Hans Solo”. To add Hans to both the Solo list and the Solow list a comma separated list would be used in the Surname field “Solo, Solow” and Hans will have an entry in both places.

Gender-Sensitive Surnames

In many areas of the world the surnames of women (wives and daughters) are different than their male counterparts. For example: in the Czech Republic a gender-sensitive surname for a women very often add -ová at the end of surname, or change -ý to -á. For example a wife could be Knapová or Černá, and the husband could be Knap or Černý. This convention can also be found in many centeral and east European languages such as Polish, Slovakian, Russian, Greek and Lithuanian.

Other examples:

Greek: A man called Papadopoulos has a daughter, she may be named Papadopoulou.
Polish: A man is called Podwinski, his wife and duaghter may be called Podwinska, while the sons are known as Podwinski.
Lithuanian: A man is called Vilkas, his wife will be called Vilkienė and his daughter will be called Vilkaitė.

To group these individuales together edit the surname field as noted above, leaving the NAME field as initially entered using one of the following alternatives:

1. Use the father/male variant in SURN field,
2. Use the plural form of the name in the SURN field, for example substitue -i for Lithuanian surnames (Vilkai)

Advanced features learned

1. Use Surname field to group surnames together in individual listings
2. Use the plural or male variant in gender-sensitive surname regions

Special considerations for married names and AKA names

In many cases the data entry person will add “married names” or AKA name (Also know as) for individuals to that person’s primary name via the “Married Name” or “Also known as” data entry fields. In most cases this action has the intended outcome, however, for cases where the name requires an alternate spelling for indexing purposes the following procedure must be followed:

1. Remove the “Married Name” or “Also known as” value in the data entry field associated with the primary name.
2. Press the “Save” button
3. Select (Main Menu) “Edit => Add New Name”, when the individual is displayed
4. Press the “Edit” icon next to the “Name” data entry field to open up the field.
5. Enter in the appropriate information in the “Name” field. For example: Leia Amidala /Solo/
6. Enter all other name pieces (i.e. Given Name (Leia Amidala), Prefix (Princess), etc) for the new married name.
7. Enter the alternate spelling(s) for the surname in the Surname field. i.e. Sola
8. Enter in the “Type” data entry field “married” or “aka”
9. Save the new name.

The above procedure will produce a new name record independent of the primary name. Please note that some application not associated with webtrees do not except GEDCOM output that has multiple NAME records. Importing a GEDCOM to these application will cause them to produce errors.

Patronymic, Matronymic and Other Names

In many locations around the world, in both ancient and modern times, individuals never had true surnames, family names or “last names”. In some locations, individuals may have been known by a very common practice of using patronymic (father based) or matronymic (mother based) ancestral names. In other locations an individual took a descriptive, place or occupational name such as, Erik the Red, William of Cornwall, John the Tinker.

Patronymic, Matronymic

In European terms, Albert, son of Anders may have been know as, Albert Anderson. Anderson in this context was not a surname but a patronymic name. Albert’s sister Caroline, may have been known as, Caroline Andersdotter. Anders (the father) also had a patronymic name, his father was named Hans, so Albert was named, Albert Hansson.

Descriptive, Place and Occupational Names

In European terms, Erik had red hair and therefore was known as Erik the Red, William was from Cornwall and was know as William of Cornwall, John Tinker worked with metal.

Different areas of the world began requiring individuals to have family or surnames at different times in history. It is therefore important to know when this occurred for the area you are researching before entering the name of the individual. Although many genealogists record Anderson, Hansson, Tinker, Corwall, and “The Red” as a surname, this would technically be incorrect for that location and time period.

To record names of individuals where family names or surnames were not in use, perform the following procedure:

1. Select the “Edit Icon” following the Name data entry field.
2. Remove the // in the field.
3. Enter the name of the individual, in the order of the name parts that the person would, by custom of their culture, be referred.
4. Save your work.

NOTE: Removing the // in the Name field (Erik the Red), tells webtrees that the individual does not have a surname. Leaving the // present, but with nothing entered (Erik the Red //) tells webtrees that the surname is unknown. The webtrees applications considers these (with and without //) as two different cases and are listed in different places in the “Individual List”:

1. Individuals without surnames i.e. Albert Anderson, are listed in the alphabetical list under “None”.
2. Individuals with unknown surnames i.e. John //, are listed in the alphabetical list under an ellipsis “…”.

Advanced features learned

1. Individuals without true surnames should be entered as they are referred without a trailing //.

שמות משפחה מרובים

In some cultures an individual will have two or more surnames, for example one surname inherited from a father and another from a mother, or a husband’s surname and a father’s surname. For example: Josep Puig i Cadafalch, Puig is the first surname of his father, Cadafalch is the first surname of his mother; i means “and”.

In webtrees you would enter for this individual’s name Josep /Puig/ i /Cadafalch/

1. Select the “Edit Icon” following the Name data entry field.
2. Remove the // in the field.
3. Enter the name of the individual with each surname enclosed by ‘/’ such as: Josep /Puig/ i /Cadafalch/
4. Save your work.

NOTE: Entering both surnames independently, enclosing each with a / tells webtrees that the individual ‘has two independent surnames” Entering this person under both Puig and Cadafalch in the lists.

webtrees may be the only application that supports double surnames. The GEDCOM spec indicates that: “…surname of an individual, if known, is enclosed between two slash (/) characters.”, webtrees interprets this to be true for multiple surnames as well and is a reasonable interpretation of the rules.

Advanced features learned

1. Individuals with two surnames should have each surname entered as two independent names enclosing each with a slash character.

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