Variation of names.

Question

I many older records the same name are often spelled in  diferent ways. I have and example fro my family where we a a branch called Skiøt. This name are written in many different ways. The first to letter can either be spelled Sk or Sch, the next two letters iø, io, o, ø, y, iy, jy,ü, jü. and the last two t, tt, th or dt. Some also add an e (Skytte). There are more than 100 possible combination of that name. In my familiy I have found, Skiøt, Skjøtt, Skjødt, Schjyt, Schüdt, Skøtt, Skyt. Which rule shall we follow when we put names into the system? Can the system match different variation of the same name? I am just curious.

Answer 1

The name fields topic in the help section has some guidlines, basically wikitree tries to use the names that would have been used by the person at that time.

Searching by alternative name is something most people have on their wishlist.

The search by family name function does show some alternative spellings of many names, I think it is limited to the 15 most popular, which does not help you.

Another thing you can do is add notes in the Biograhy section explaining it.

The other thing you might consider once you have settled in, we have a one names study project for researchers looking at similar problems, you might find it interesting.

Answer 2

As such, different spelling are not a problem.

But if there are duplicates or if you expect some, I suggest to choose a last name as a "working name" to be mentioned as the CLN.

That way, you can see them all at once, whatever their LNAB. Finding duplicates is much easier.

If two profiles have variations of the same name as LNAB, I select the one going the farther up the generations. Far from perfect, but I haven't heard of a better way to do it, except when sources are available.

Comments

Thanks for your reply.I have decided to use the first mentioned name for each person, typical the name on the birth certificate. Later variation of the name I will mention, but the person will be in my tree und the first name. In my gre atgreat grand mothers birth certificate, the name was Mathilde Christine Buch Pedersen. Later her first names are spelled Matilde or Mathilde, Christine, Kirstine og Kierstine, Buch or Buk and her married name Skiøtt in several different form.  I will keep her in my tree as Mathilde Christine Buch Pedersen. For her married name, I will use the form of Skiøtt used at her marriage.