Are Jnr and Snr acceptable for suffixes?

Question

A small error to be sure, but just want clarification.

I was participating in a Data Doctor challenge when I came across two "wrong word in suffix" errors/suggestions.  I changed Jnr to Jr and Snr to Sr, but the manager of the profiles politely objected as he preferred to "not allow Americanisms into the English language."

I could not find anything in the naming conventions that addresses this.  I have no problem with him putting Jnr or Snr, but just wanted clarification as to what Wikitree recommends so I can respond appropriately should I come across this again.

Should I have just left it alone and told the system it was a false error?

Comments

The Suffix entry in Help:Name Fields, gives the example of "Jr." but as Jim says, both Jr & Jnr are recognized abbreviations.

Answer 1

Well, according to Oxford Dictionary online: 

 Jr ---  abbreviation

(also Jnr)(both British English)(also Jr. North American English, British English)

It would appear that a British dictionary accepts both, with Jr the first choice. 

In your case, since the profile manager prefers Jnr and Snr, I would let it go, and mark it a false error.

Answer 2

This is not an authoritative answer, just an observation.  But wikipedia (and a couple of other sources, if you Google the abbreviations) appears to agree with your correspondent that Jr and Sr may be Americanized forms:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix_(name)

I personally see no harm in using the British forms, if that was the convention used by the people at the time.  But note that WikiTree policy still says that the suffix field should only be used for a suffix at birth (i.e., Jr would be OK, but not Sr):

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Name_Fields

Some members seem to ignore this policy, and there was a recent G2G proposal to liberalize it, but so far the guidance in the Help file hasn't changed.