How do I post a family with 2 different LNAB Spellings? it is confusing.

Question

The father (David) was generally known as MCPHERSON but the children are variously posted on the DIA (NZ) website as follows

1881/13915    McPherson
1883/6271      MacPherson
1885/8828      McPherson
1887/18323    McPherson
1889/10862    Macpherson     
1893/15049    Macpherson
1895/17311    McPherson

Do I start each child with the name as listed on the official record or should I be consistent and use the ONE spelling - McPherson - which is the only one accepted by the family?

This is more a case of PHONETIC spelling as opposed to anything official.

I would hate to cause problems when people want to search for these names!!

Thanks

Answer 1

So from a search perspective, WikiTree will search for LNAB as well as "Other Last Names" and "Current Last Name", so you probably don't have to worry much about that part.

However, I try my best to remain consistent, if that's feasible, but more than this I try to be accurate if I can. So if McPherson is the most likely LNAB for all children, then I'd use that. But in the "Other Last Names" field, I would put the variant (MacPherson). Or vice-versa if Mac is the proper and Mc is the less likely. The find feature is a bit flexible, so it might find them anyway without it but it's better this way as it covers you for both circumstances.

I'd also put something in the biography to describe your thoughts in which name you chose, and that way anyone backtracking your work can see your justification and add to your research.

Comments

Thanks Scott!!