Formats for counties, towns, parishes, etc.

Question

I work on several genealogy sites at the same time, and I use the software RootsMagic. My problem is naming conventions. The software and websites argue with me about the naming of locations in pre-Revolurtionary United States, the naming of the counties of England and the existence of the country of England. Now, there are several ways to name the United States pre-Revolution and the States before they were States. How in the heck do you choose? If the software argues about whether England existed or the counties existed, do I ignore it and leave it as it is in the indexed record? And what about British Colonial America? Now it’s telling me to call it British America or British North America. This drives me nuts.

Answer 1

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19msdf4uzxBiyIwCSNUBcrHt15Qp-DXpGxBYLp3YWDO0/edit#gid=1136264887

I use this handy spreadsheet.

Answer 2

I use RootsMagic as well. You do not need to accept RootsMagic’s placename suggestions, if you do not want to. I believe you can turn off the RootsMagic suggestions, if you wish.

I do not use terms like British Colonial America, or British America, and the like.

Whatever system you use, keep enough information to distinguish locations that have similar names.