What is the standard for the surname St John?

Question

I have two profiles to be merged.  One I have just adopted, the other belongs to a beautifully responsive manager so we are tidying up this family very smoothly.

It seems likely to me that both these names are incorrect but I would like advice on the matter.

http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=StJohn-13&public=1

and 

http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=St.%20john-29&public=1

Should I merge into one of these two, or do they need a new ID?  The original is written in very meagre sources as 'St John'.  The second is quite close but I believe the lack of capitalisation makes it a different name in WikiTree?  

BTW I am really not sure how to categorise this.  Please someone recategorise and/or tag if it should have been done.

Answer 1

i poked around and a) it appears there is no rule and b) there seems to be a higher number of St_John than StJohn or St.John or St._John

I'd go with St_John

Comments

Thank you, Jillaine, I have done this.  I think it is the most likely form to catch any future duplicates, too.

Answer 2

I have been having problems all my life with the St. Denis name. During school I had to have three copies of every paper since the school would file the paper under ST or Saint and even under Denis. Lately with the advent of computers I been having my last name run together Stdenis or have to leave the period out. My personal feeling that the name should  have a space between the names. To me the period is optional. My French teacher would call "Street Denis" if I put a period  after St.

I would change the name to what most  prevalent name usage in Wikitree. Itis easier t change a few than a lot.

 

Joseph St. Denis

 

Comments

This was probably the experience of everyone with a 'St Something' name going back through centuries.  A useful insight.     

Answer 3

I am a St.John (period, no space) and during my research, I have found all the variations of my last name, even within my tree. From birth certificates, to census', to death certificates, for the same person, there have been STJOHN, ST JOHN, ST. JOHN, and ST.JOHN. I haven't come across any SAINT JOHN's in my tree tree, but I've only gone back to the 1600's so far.

Answer 4

Ultimately, we are dealing with a computer database at this point.  Having the search be smart to look at all likely variations would be ideal.  Seems like many sites do that, but I'm running into the same challenges on WikiTree... at this point!  For the record, I'm down the St(period space)John line!