Why does the preferred name for a person add the middle name when a match search is done?

Question

While looking for matches for James H. Blackstock, the search showed the following:

• James H. H. Blackstock 1759 , Greenville, South Carolina, USA - 1830 ~ Managed by you.
• James Alexander A. Blackstock 1821 Georgia, USA - ~ Managed by you.
• James Blackstock - ~ Managed by Duris Holmes.
• James P Blackstock September 26, 1916 Jackson, Georgia, USA - October 14, 1998 ~ Managed by Cindy Threat.

I see both of my entries have used the middle initial along with the name I put in the Preferred Name box. The names should read James H. Blackstock and James Alexander Blackstock. So does this mean I can't use the Preferred Name box without it messing up the search results?

RE: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Blackstock-42

Answer 1

Hi Debby,

I see. Since you have "James H." (with the middle initial) as the Preferred First Name, in contexts where the Preferred First Name and Middle Initial are combined, you get the initial twice.

Did you see this yet? http://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Blackstock-42/1001

It will help you know what to expect in different contexts.

Chris

Comments

Okay. It only says Preferred Name rather than Preferred First Name so I didn't understand what it meant. I thought it meant a person should put in the name they want to see at the top of the page, in searches, etc. and for me, that's the whole name for men and the whole name plus maiden name for women. Guess it's not going to work that way so I have a whole lot of profiles that have to be changed. Thanks.

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Here's a good reference source: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Name_Fields

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Thanks, Chris. So you won't think I'm negligent, I've read the page before, twice, and today a third time, but there's so much to remember. I think I've done more reading (and forgetting) than entering data. It's great to have so many help pages. Maybe eventually it will all stick.

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:-) No worries. It's complex stuff; the goal is to make it simple and intuitive. We're always working on improving the help pages, and how questions are answered in formats like this.