Idea for new data error for "no names"

Question

Could we possibly get a new error for profiles that have a last name of "NN" or "N N" for no name?  I believe these should be listed as Unknown to conform to WikiTree style.

Comments

If anyone is inclined to help me work on getting these changed, I'm working through the NN index page at https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:Surname&s=NN&order=dobup

For now, I'm only going to do orphaned profiles.

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Also, if there are any cases/cultures/languages where NN could be a legitimate last name, that would be helpful to know.  I don't want to make an incorrect assumption.

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I strongly recommend you spend your time looking for the correct name and providing sources instead of changing the names to Unknown.

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I defer to the opinions of Shirley and Aleš.  It sounds like this is a no-go.  Thanks all for your input.

Answer 1

As Leader of the Unknowns Project i do not recommend changing those weird name substitutes to Unknown. The change adds an unnecessary redirect. I definitely feel the time could more profitably be spent in looking for the actual name and providing sources for them. It does no harm to have many name variants for unknown names. Just spend the time sourcing instead of changing the name.

Comments

I would think there might be some exceptions though. Sometimes you stumble on a profile with NN or XX with actual name info in the changes tab. The manager has tried to "erase" his/her tree by editing the original names to NN or XX or Anonymous. Those profiles might be worth doing some work on, restoring them to one version with as much info as possible.

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I am all for getting the correct name for these profiles if possible. That is one of the goals of the Unknowns Project. So if there is any information remaining in the bio section or the Changes section of the profile that could lead to learning the correct name, please do follow up on it.

Answer 2

Yesterday I came across one surname listed as "Xxxxx"

Checking today there are:

159 "Xxx" / 74 "Xxxx" / 33 "Xxxxx" / 17 "Xxxxxx" / 5 "Xxxxxxx"

Comments

Great additions to the list of what should be included.  Thanks, Vivian!

Answer 3

I did a quick look through surnames and found these:

• ZZ (1 - xx (yy) zz)
• ZZ-ERROR (4 - )
• ZZZ (5/3)
• ZZZZ (3/3)
• Z (98/88 Zs)
• Y (116/110 Ys)
• Y-DNA-PROGENITOR (4/4)

Answer 4

Is having Unknown instead of NN, XX, XXX,,... (there are hundreds of such names) worth the trouble?

Comments

No it is not worth the time and effort involved. That time could better be spent sourcing and looking for the correct name.