Wrong names for German royals?

Question

Came upon this almost unrecognisable profile and put in some quick alterations, which I hope are right? The trouble is the rot spreads further: is there somebody knowledgeable on German royalty who'll tidy other profiles? Not my immediate field of interest.

Answer 1

The things I can add are 1. "Margrave of" may have been what he was called shortly before his death in England, but for most of his life he was "Markgraf von"; 2. his given names were Christian Friedrich Karl Alexander but he went by Karl Alexander - the pitfalls of using the entirely un-German concept of Middle Names (his Proper First Name should be all 4 with his Preferred Name being Karl Alexander, Anglo-American conventions just won't cut it for many other cultures); 3. he is indeed from the House Hohenzollern, but for generations his ancestors went by Brandenburg-Ansbach(-Bayreuth) - we have to really find a solution for these names and not just continue with pre-1600 conventions blindly.

Comments

I see no way that those working euroaristo profiles for instance will ever be able to understand all the cultural differences that exist in Europe alone. Speaking the language is really only the beginning of understanding and few of us are handy at more than a couple of languages. Perhaps it is time to abandon the euroaristo concept and allow the setting up of different standards for the different nations involved. A move in that direction might say "Wikitree is for everybody".

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Agree totally. For WikiTree to grow significantly beyond its Anglophone origins will require embracing the languages and naming customs of many other cultures, today and in past centuries.

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I couldn't agree more.  The strange, Anglo-centric practices surrounding 'euroaristo' profiles are the single most frustrating thing I've encountered on Wikitree and a huge barrier to participation by anyone who comes from or is familiar with the cultures of continental Europe.  If we really are serious - as I hope at least some of us are - about creating a culturally-aware unified family tree, we NEED to rethink the assumptions surrounding these profiles.

All the best,

Kelsey

Answer 2

Since this is a member of the house of Hohenzollern, I would not characterize the use of Hohenzollern as LNAB "wrong" though as Helmut suggests, something closer to what the family actually used coud be an improvement.

That name is not as wrong as his father's LNAB "VonHohenzollern", or his aunt by alliance, "Christine-26". Also consider his mother's profile, the product of the merge of profiles "Frederica-3", "Prussia-11", "Louise-34" and "Frederica-2". This tells something about the confusion that reigns with these LNABs. Any of these names is worse than the Hohenzollern she has now.

Of course all the bizarre names are products of wild imports of massive Gedcoms early in WikiTree's life, before a few rules were changed, and done with Gedcoms that may not have supported spaces in family names, for instance. Fixing them is a work in progress. It takes a lot of time because, first, there are many of them, and second, it's sometimes very difficult to agree on a proper LNAB.