I too have ancestors with uncommon names from that period. I have treated them as surnames and have not had any problems with them not being recognized on websites such as FamilySearch. As to the use of Fitz in a name, my sources do not indicate "illegitimate birth", rather simply "son of".
On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 1:57 PM, Jenny M Benson <ge...@cedarbank.me.uk> wrote: > On 10-Aug-17 08:17 PM, Lin Sharp wrote: > >> I am fortunate in having success in documenting some of my family lines >> back as far as the 13th century in what is now the UK. I would appreciate >> suggestions as to the best way to record those names in my Legacy program. >> Names such as the following are a bit different from today's nomenclature: >> >> >> Eleanore de Ferrers >> Richard Fitz Alan >> William Le Bigod etc. >> >> As I understand it, what appear to be prefixes indicate their parentage. >> With my various "Fitz" names (for instance) it appears that William Fitz >> Hugh is the son of Hugh. Hugh may have been the son of Ralph and his name >> appears "Hugh Fitz Ralph". His father may have been Ralph Fitz William, >> etc. This of course is not our way of naming today when the surname >> typically remains the same (except for spelling) from one generation to >> the >> next.. >> >> My question is how to record these names in the surname box. Do I show "de >> Ferrers" as the surname, or "Eleanore de" as the then given name in the >> first example? For Richard Fitz Alan, is "Fitz" a part of the surname? >> The same goes for William Le Bigod. It wouldn't really work right to >> include the "de" , "Fitz", or "Le" in the prefix box because some of these >> ancestors also have Titles. >> >> I know that consistency is my main objective but would truly would >> appreciate guidance as to the proper way to do this! >> >> >> >> Strictly speaking, "de Ferrers", "Fitz Alan", "le Bigod" in your examples > are not surnames but descriptives. I see no reason, though, why you should > not treat them as surnames. In each case I would put the entire contents > of the quotation marks I have used into the Surname field in Legacy. Bear > in mind, of course, that you will probably have to override the "suggested" > Surname which Legacy will automatically assign if you are entering one of > these people as a child of his/her father and you will probably also have > to override the Surname when entering the children of the males. > > It may or may not be the case for Richard Fitz Alan, but I think I am > right in saying that Fitz usually indicated the child was the illegitimate > offspring of his father. > -- > Jenny M Benson > http://jennygenes.blogspot.co.uk/ > > -- > > LegacyUserGroup mailing list > LegacyUserGroup@legacyusers.com > To manage your subscription and unsubscribe http://legacyusers.com/mailman > /listinfo/legacyusergroup_legacyusers.com > Archives at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ >
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