Do you check the spelling ?

Question

I have been spending some time looking at merge proposals awaiting completion.

Many of them are delayed due to lack of attention to spelling.

If your data subject is in the UK, then their names will probably be spelled in English, not American, there is a big difference, as with those from other European countries.

Comments

Can you please provide an example of name spelt in "english" and its equivalent in "american"?  I have never heard that such differences existed.

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Very easily, Tannis Mani, there are so many - Grey / Gray, Shelley / Shelly, I could go on and on, but I suspect you already know just what I mean.

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Thanks! I completely forgot that Grey/Gray could be last name too. I am familiar with spellings we use in Canada that are either similar or different than US or British spellings (like colour vs color, favourite vs favorite, etc.) but I did not realize this happened for names as welll.  I will definitely keep an eye out for more.!

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Those alternate spellings occur in both England and America. They are not country or language specific.

Answer 1

I agree that spelling should not hold up a merge. I don't think it is a particularly cross Atlantic problem

There are variant spellings used  when people cross the Atlantic but there are variant spellings in their relatives that remain behind.

A so many times great aunt  started off baptised Cleaton,  but then was called Cleeton, and  Clayton as she traversed  from here to Utah but the same variants were used  in records for her siblings and their descendants  left behind in England.

We can find 3 or more spellings within the same will and multiple spellings within parish registers.

We also find names that are anglicised when ancestors  arrived from Prussia or  Flanders or wherever.

I  suspect  that there are far more problems caused by anglicisation (is that a word) for those in the USA with ancestors from many different countries.

Comments

Good point, Helen. Perhaps we should take care to list possible name variants in the bio somewhere, it could save a lot of confusion.

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You can do this when you edit the name in the profile Tim, you can add other last name, so my full name on my profile is 'Elizabeth Sian (Lizzie) Griffiths formerly Batman aka Bateman' I have other examples in my very English tree Haworth aka Howarth, Waters aka Wateret aka Watret.

It definately stops creation of dupes as well as helping research!

Answer 2

Merging is a major WikiTree endeavour. Spelling is secondary and should not in my view hold up merging proposals. I do spellckecks regularly using Notepad & Word. Merging proposals need to be resolved on a top priority basis.

Comments

Claude, how can you be sure a merge is correct if the names differ ? You say that you use spellcheck, I regret to tell you that it is American, and the spelling is often incorrect for English. The Oxford English dictionary is a better bet, but that does not give first names or surnames. I'm not trying to mock, but as Churchill said, 'Two great nations, divided by a single language.'

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There are two possible directions for merging two profiles. If the Uk-english version is more appropriate, why not use that merge direction?

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That is fine, Claude, provided we know which one is appropriate for the individual in question. As I said to Helen ( below ), Perhaps we could show all known variants of name used in the bio.