Naming Convention for First Peoples of Canada

Profile managers: Canada Project WikiTree [send private message], Christine Daniels [send private message], Peggy Watkins [send private message], Doug McCallum [send private message], and Amy Gilpin [send private message]

Naming Guide

Surnames are a modern convention within the First Peoples communities.

This will become an issue for anyone trying to create a profile where they must enter a LNAB.

The following points from the WikiTree Help page on Name Fields have been considered:

• we must use their conventions instead of ours
• if last names weren't used in the person's time, one needs to be created
• we aim to use the names that people themselves would have known and that would have been recognized in their own time and place

See also: Native Americans Project

"WikiTree's underlying technology requires an entry in the "Last Name at Birth" field. It is the policy of WikiTree's Native Americans project to use this field to record the tribe or nation name for those individuals born before the introduction of surnames. For example, Pocahontas was a member of the Powhatan people."

We therefore propose the following for the applicable profiles:

Proper First Name: The person’s native name, written in their language, if known.

Other Nicknames: Their non-Native, English or French name

LNAB:

As always, sources should be used and well documented.

If Known, use Nation/Tribe name

If Unknown, use

Unknown First Nations

Unknown Métis

Unknown Inuit

In the case of multiple potential tribes, we will assess and resolve on a case by case basis.

Spelling

Tribe Names will be outlined in the categories, for example: Category: First Nations.

Related Projects

Project: First Peoples Canada