I tried to edit Ole Olsen Vang name and it did not come out right. Can I delete Wollan?

Question

Norwegians changed their names when they moved to a new farm and Ole Vang did not live at Wollan farm so Wollan should not be in his name.  It should be Ole Olson Vang ( preferrred?) or Ole Olson Vang Skjeflo. The name can change with each generation if they moved.

Answer 1

Hi Judi,

If you go to his profile and click on the edit tab you can then change any or all of his name.

That is unless it's a locked profile.

Comments

You should also add sources while you are editing the profile. It is currently unsourced so we have no way of seeing which name combination is appropriate.

Answer 2

I added Norway as a tag so project Norway would be aware.

There is quite a lot to read about names in Norway FAQ, where it says farm names should not be used unless shown in multiple sources.

Your first task will be to find sources for all the profiles you have entered claiming unsourced family tree and contact Project Norway for advice.

Comments

I added some sources to Nils Rolf Wollan that had been unsourced since 2013.

Please read https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Sources

If you have any questions, please contact me privately.

Answer 3

Thanks for mentioning the naming conventions, Juha.

The bottom line for naming conventions for most non-living Norwegians is to use the patronymic as LNAB, and the Current Last Name for their last-used farm name. You can also put farm names in Other Last Name(s), and if at all possible give more details in the Bio (e.g., he was born on the [farm1] farm, lived on the [farm2] farm at the time of the 1865 census, used the [farm3] name as his last name when he emigrated to the USA, etc.).

If you have evidence from multiple sources that the family used an actual surname (quite uncommon before the 20th century), then you can use that as LNAB.

So, for Benjamin Olsen Vang Skjeflo Wollan:

• LNAB: Olsen
• Current Last Name: Wollan (assuming that's the last one he used)
• Other Last Name(s): Vang, Skjeflo

Of course, if they adopted a surname either upon migration to the US or to conform with the Names Act of 1923, then that is their Current Last Name.

Just to be thorough, I'll point out that the patronymic and farm names are descriptors, not "names" in the American/Anglo sense, and this is our convention for fitting them into the Anglo name fields on WikiTree.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!