What is proper use of L'Aine?

Question

Capital L or lowercase?  Use as a prefix?  "Marie Madeleine Simard L'Ainé"

Is it masculine, feminine or used for both?

Or should it be used at all, because they probably weren't born with it.  Similar to comments about not using Sr. for a father because the younger with the same name wasn't born yet.  I have a few french ancestors with this designation.  

It was entered as a suffix on this profile Simard-88

Answer 1

If you really need to use it the spelling is l'aîné (or l'Aîné) for a man and l'aînée/l'Aînée for a woman (this was really rarely used).

It should not go into the suffix field, since suffix is at birth and by definition when the older is born, nobody knows there will be a younger.

It could go in the other nicknames fields but ONLY if it is used in primary documents, i.e. a baptism, marriage or burial record where the person appears as parent or witness and is called l'aîné(e).

L'aîné(e) was not the only way to indicate someone was older, l'Ancien is also found, so you must be sure that it was really l'aînée that was used (more frequently it is the younger who is called le Jeune, and no qualifier for the elder).

Comments

You should indicate its use (perhaps with an explanation or link to the definition) in the individual's biography (and when referenced on related individuals' profiles).

Answer 2

I would go with what the birth or baptismal record shows and that would be no l'aînée since, as you said, the younger is not born yet. I think that would apply for "the older" only since there are instances where "the younger" is used on birth and baptismal records.