Unique spelling of names

Question

 SUGGESTIONS "on a roll" in my own report. Very entertaining. 

I told SUGGESTIONS that Unique spelling was the norm in my family lines -- but I doubt this is a convincing argument with the computer. One merely clicks on "False Suggestion" and continues to "clear the board". 

The one I really LOVED was the SUGGESTION that Jesse had the wrong gender. I looked, SHE's not mis-gendered. So I clicked on "False Suggestion" and stated gender was correct SHE married a MAN. Of course her PROFILE needs development (I am aware of this) 

Ah, and there's STILL Ivy E. Starnes-1218 and no, HE is not mis-gendered either. I'm still trying to figure out if he's "Ivy" or "Iva" and either one is going to upset SUGGESTIONS on this gender Problem it has. 

I do not FAULT the computer, it is given name = gender and biased by it's preconceptions, unlike creatively inclined human minds. Which seem to congregate in my family lines. 

Comments

I have added a 'Duke' and a 'Doctor' they are no relation but trees I am expanding, though I have a couple of 'Major' in my distant relatives yet to add.

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My father named my brother Lorraine, after a male cousin of his, in 1938.  By the time my brother was in the army in 1956 he let everyone know he was hence forth "Larry".  My mother used all kinds of euphemisms (your brother the mechanic, your youngest brother, the city boy, etc.) to avoid it but the rest of us easily adjusted.  He got more and more letters to Miss, Miz. and Ms. as times went on.  The same
gender problem confused those computers.

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Oh, my, Heather and Beulah, yes, Try "General" and "Commodore" along side "Major", "Sargent" (& variations), "Queen", "King", "Princess", "Prince", "Duke", "Doc, Doctor, Dock", and whatever fancy takes the parent(s) -- and yes, the PROBLEM area of "name-spelling = gender" for other names 

You can end up in quite a dispute with the computer about these names. I wonder how it deals with "Bishop", "Cardinal", "Pope", "Minister", "Elder" as forenames?  

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My opinion is that inanimate/intangible objects do not have a gender. Only living objects (plants and animals) have gender.

And we all know how crazy those animals known as humans are - no telling what insanely unique name they will come up with next!

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Quite so, Lindy, but software (code) is written by wetware (humans) for the use of and in computers (hardware) thus the assignment of a human quirk to the object in question 

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Words have gender.  Living things have sex.

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That suggestion was created to detect possibly typos. It is not intended as a critique of the names used in our families. If the name spelling is valid, just mark it "false suggestion" and move on.

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Lois, exactly!

As for the suggestions, it came up recently (but I can't find where) that it's purely a numbers thing: if there are fewer than five (I think) profiles on WikiTree with that spelling or that name-and-sex, then it makes the suggestion to double-check for typos.

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so true Ellen... we often forget the intent, and get hung up on the end result.

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Not sure why unique names have to be assigned a gender preference, Susan.

What are the genders of the words in this sentence, Lois?

Good point, Ellen. I guess intent is like gender; we often assign it to objects/concepts that don't inherently have it!

My work is done here!

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umm, Ellen, would you care to defend the place name "suggestion" that Siberia be changed to Liberia?  Fortunately, the profile is public, so it has been saved from damage in the name of "corrections".

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The noun "word" is neuter, the noun "sentence" is feminine, the name "Lois" is feminine.

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Gaile: There are plenty of other data-doctor suggestions that I find to be problematic. However, I think "unique name" serves its intended purpose rather well -- except when members get upset because they get the notion that the computer algorithm is criticizing their family's name choices or decreeing a change in the spelling of a relative's name.

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Well, Lindy, separate the question of unique forename spelling from the question of what is actually (proably, IMO) a cultural question of "suitable names for boys / girls".  And from the other issue of mis-spelling due to typo errors.

WT is global or aiming to be global. Global indicates numerous cultures which have their own "suitable names" roster. Or if you prefer "the usual sort of names used" ... in some eras in the USA and what was going to be the USA, Sarah, Mary, Martha, Jane, Ann / Anna / Anne, Lucy, Nancy, Elizabeth and such were the usual sort of names used ... names have a trends or are more commonly used during certain periods of time such as Lynn / Lynne, Lindsey, Loraine, Lana, Belle, Bessie, Betsy, Beulah, Caroline, Carolyn, and such ...

Cultural / national conventions which add the suffix for "son of" and "daughter of" are often found.

And as has been mentioned, the computer is programmed to check unique spelling with the PM in order to determine if the PM has made a typo (typed in the information incorrectly). I noted one case recently where Sarah had been typed in as Srah. Records indicated it was indeed Sarah and not Srah.

Traditional use over time has in fact assigned a number of names as "male" or "female".

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I saw a record the other day where the name "Srah" was entered in the register. Fortunately the name was spelled Sarah on every other record for the woman...

And when the computer questions a person's gender, it's suggesting that you might possibly have hit the wrong gender when you created the profile. It does that solely on the basis of the statistics of names in WikiTree; it is not making any judgements about the name choice.

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Often names will be abbreviated in registers, to save space.  (I was just reading instructions to recorders on what were acceptable occupation and residential abbreviations.)

I learnt early on (40 or so years ago) that Henry wasn't always Henry, but sometimes H^ny, or H^ry.  That John would frequently be abbreviated as J^no (and I still question WHY the o now goes after the n!), Elizabeth as Eliz, Elz^th, or Eliz^th, Margaret as Marg^t, or M^gt (which makes me think "management"), and William as W^llm, or W^m .. .. and so on.

We shouldn't record those as actual names, but note that the recorder has used abbreviations, unless there is continuing evidence that the person had a truly weird name that in any other case would be an abbreviation.

If I have a birth reg for Bessie, then her name IS Bessie, not Elizabeth, even if she later is known as Elizabeth.  If I have documents that say Maggie's birth was registered as Maggie, she was christened as Maggie, she married as Maggie, and her name is Maggie on the registrations of her children as Maggie, then her name is NOT Margaret, no matter how many online "trees" list her as so. /personal peeve

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I don't think Srah will trigger a suggestion - there are more than five hits for a first name spelled like that.

Answer 1

I'm growing fond of the "hide forever" option

Comments

I’m with you on that, Lois!

Answer 2

My wife's grandfather is named Joyce. Her dad is Joyce Jr. And her brother is Joyce III. (we weren't planning on naming any of our kids Joyce).

Comments

Joyce is one of those names that was historically a boy's name, but somehow morphed into a girl's name.