Merge direction: name in birth record or modern version?

Question

In the last few days I got several merge proposals for Bohemian profiles. They all appear to be justified and all have in common that one profile uses the name as found in the birth/baptismal record, the other the modern Czech version. All are from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Background: Czech underwent a major orthographic reform in the mid 19th century (Dworzak became Dvořák for instance). WikiTree naming conventions for Czech profiles essentially say to use the modern version of the name. This is not only contrary to the guidelines for most other projects, it also creates a guessing game for non-Czech speakers regarding the correct modern version of the name. In addition, many Bohemians left the kingdom before the orthographic reform and took the then current form of their name with them. Going back in time to the country of origin one is then all of a sudden supposed to use the modern form of the name for their ancestors.

So the question is which name to use in theses otherwise necessary merges? The documented form or the modern?

As an aside, since the Czech Roots Project seems to have gone away and there seems to exist an interest in the topic, perhaps one could see how much interest exists to revive the project.

Answer 1

Helmut, that naming guideline the Czech project states seems to be in direct conflict with official WikiTree policy of using the original name given to the person, in language of the time and place where the person was born.

Comments

Indeed, Gaile: you and Abby seem to have pointed this out when the issue was discussed in 2015.

Answer 2

Thanks for bringing this issue up, Helmut. Ever since I became aware of the Czech naming guidelines, I have been rather bothered by them. In particular, the rules on adding suffixes to feminine names seem problematic.  For that reason I have not added as many profiles for Bohemians as I otherwise would have.

I think the rules for LNAB should be kept simple and conform to the general WikiTree policy of "the spelling that appears in a birth record should be used for the Last Name at Birth....".

In my mind, there are several good reasons for doing things this way. One is to avoid confusion and duplication of profiles.  Another is to avoid presentism or applying standards from some other time than the one the person was born into.  Finally, regardless of whether there is an active Czech Roots Project or not, many relevant profiles have been, and will be, created by WikiTreers who are not in the project and aren't going to read or follow its naming guidelines

edited for typo