I started with including "de" in the last name and then found myself scrolling through scads of them to find the right "place." That was not including the other variants of "o," "from," et alia. I changed to using the "place" as the last name. There are several web sites that do it this way, and I have found it MUCH easier to find the person I want when they do. Sites that don't have me searching, de, d', du, des, etc. The place is what's important. That being said, I make one exception - "de la Warre" because that became Delaware.
To use your example: First name = Mabel de Last name = Alençon AKA first = Mabel d' AKA last = Alençon That way I can find the person being referred to even if my source uses what is any of my AKAs. As for conversion, I slowly changed all French names from "of" to the appropriate form(s) of "de." German to "von," Low Countries to "van," and similarly for Spanish, Italian, etc. "Le," "les," and "l'" are different because they are often an integral part of the name of the place, such as "Les Georges," and "La Bourse." But for "Ferrers" I have "Margaret le" "Ferrers." The ability to have so many AKAs is one of the main reasons I switched to Legacy many eons ago. I save "of" for people like " Blithildis of the" "Franks," or " Fáelán Uí Duláinge, King of" "Leinster." He is one for whom I have 10 AKAs, which means I can find him no matter how the author spells his name or what is used for the patronymic. I can also find all persons referred to as of "Leinster." I hoped I haven't just made things more confused for you.................. CE -----Original Message----- From: k...@legacyfamilytree.com [mailto:k...@legacyfamilytree.com] On Behalf Of RICHARD SCHULTHIES Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 1:20 PM To: LegacyUserGroup@legacyfamilytree.com Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] surnames not ALL CAPS When I started genealogy on computer (using PAF2.1), it had the 'middle name' field, so that was where they were. Because of some names, I moved all 'little' words to after the given name. I don't like it, but it is what I have. I am considering moving them all to the Surname field. The problem, an example, is John I of Alencon, then Mabel de Alencon, also d'Alencon. Should I convert 'of' to de if I can find no version that exists, or just leave what I have, and tolerate it? Rich in LA CA --- On Tue, 6/9/09, Elizabeth <roobee...@googlemail.com> wrote: > From: Elizabeth <roobee...@googlemail.com> > Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] surnames not ALL CAPS > To: LegacyUserGroup@legacyfamilytree.com > Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 3:17 AM > An aside - do you index de la Ware > under 'd' or 'W'? > > My surnames are all in Caps - I only heard via LUG this > week that > anyone did it a different way! Now I have another > change to make as > well as the sources. Having started about 45 years > ago with paper and > pencil, I could do without another minor adjustment! > -- > - - - - - - - > Elizabeth > researching ALLAMBRIDGE (Dorset, Somerset and anywhere else > they might turn up) > > 2009/6/9 RICHARD SCHULTHIES <fourpa...@verizon.net>: > > > > I don't know about the fashionableness of all caps. I > didn't like CAPS from day one, so I never did it. Since I > had a lot of names like de la Ware, and McDougal and > O'Brien. They just looked better. When I downloaded a Gedcom > from IGI, many of them were all caps. What I did was, > > 1. Opened Name List, sorting on Surname > > 2. Choose 'Tab' Edit. Repair one surname at a time. > Ctrl-C and V for all duplicates. > > 3. switch from Surname to given, repeat the process. > For unique names, you are stuck. > > The program may now exist somewhere to switch them > automatically, but even if it is there, it wouldn't fix my > examples above. > > Rich in LA CA > > > > Legacy User Group guidelines: > http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp > Archived messages: > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ > Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp > To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp > > > > Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.339 / Virus Database: 270.12.27/2111 - Release Date: 06/09/09 05:53:00 Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
