When will wikitree change the tree about surname

+14 votes
232 views
My ancestors dont have any surname before 1940s because we are inuit. Our inuit custom had no surname. My great great grandparents had none surname and only one name or nickname... Thats it.

So will wikitree family stop require for surname?
in Policy and Style by Clayton Ungungai G2G Crew (550 points)
retagged by Dorothy Barry
Great question! My great-grandmother was Catherine.  Aleuts didn't use surnames either so I have no idea what to use in it's place.

don't know how much help it will be for you, but check out this G2G discussion on Native American Names: http://www.wikitree.com/g2g/238633/

I didn't see Inuit covered separately by the Native Americans Project - see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Native_Americans_Project & https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Native_Americans  The First Peoples Canada Project has some links you may find of interest.

I also checked under Category:Native American Tribes by State and discovered there is not a category for Alaska listed there, but I did find Inuit here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Alaska

Cheers, Liz

 

3 Answers

+4 votes
Maybe there can be a rule of putting in a "No Surname" type thing since "Unknown" would not work on that? That would be something the higher ups would have to figure out. :/
by Charlotte Shockey G2G6 Pilot (979k points)
+5 votes
This is also true for many Pre-1500 profiles.  I agree.  There should be some sort of way to indicate the person had no surname without putting Unknown because Unknown is not correct in these situations.
by Emma MacBeath G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
There are currently close to 400,000 "Unknown" surname profiles on WikiTree that can't be found in searches, or suggested as possible duplicates when new profiles are created.

Adding an option, similar to selecting that a profile has no middle name, spouse, or children seems like a better fix than assigning imaginary surnames to people who never had a surname..
+10 votes

Welcome to G2G forum Clayton,

Here is what is on the help pages:

  • "If last names weren't used in the person's time, one needs to be created."

(https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Name_Fields#Special_rules_for_required_fields)

If there was a Clan name it could be used. But I think the use of "No Last Name" should be allowable in cases like this.

by Rubén Hernández G2G6 Pilot (818k points)

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