Hi Denis, I use FTM and have gone through the surname selection many times in the last 25 years. Between my husband and myself, we have 8 grandparents with Portuguese ancestors. I began by letting FTM name the person's last name. That did not work for me. I then began trying to identify the person as, "son or daughter of..." That did not work for me either. When I tried to find a name in the index, there was no way what I had entered was easily searched. I finally changed my names to be searched by first name. (You do this by entering the name, (Celeste Perry\\) and adding 2 backward slashes at the end of the name. This enables me to first find the person by the first name (this name, for the most part, remains the same on the baptism, marriage and death record) and I can easily search the last names (they are in alpha order) to find the person I want. Because I always enter an "about" date for each entry, I can pretty much narrow down the person I want. In the "notes" section, I enter the different names and the document that provided the information. When a report is printed out, the notes help explain the names I have mentioned. Hope this helps, Celeste, Hayward, CA
Celeste Perry [email protected] --- On Tue, 3/29/11, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Limitations of genealogy software when entering Portuguese names To: "Azores Genealogy" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 8:32 AM Address to the group: I am seeking input in how others have chosen to enter data in their genealogy software programs (Family Tree Maker, etc.). The software is programmed to assume that children have the same surname as the male parent, and so automatically give that surname to each child. This of course is very saving in keystrokes for cultures that follow this practice. The Portuguese do not. In Portugese genealogy, the baptism/birth records the child with his/her first name only (at least in Santa Maria Island records), e.g. Manoel. If Manoel dies as an infant or young child, he dies as Manoel. If he lives until perhaps Confirmation or until he is a young man, he may die as Manoel José. When he marries he may choose to be known as Manoel José using his father’s surname, his mother’s, sometimes a combining of both, and sometimes an entirely different surname (perhaps coming from an as yet unidentified source by the genealogist). In addition, if we choose to compile whole family data, rather than only ancestral direct lines, we find that our hypothetical now married, Manoel José de Moura, is often identified with variants of his name in the records of his children. And all of the above exists also for females. It is therefore misleading I believe to accept Family Tree Maker's automatically given surname. Should not the surname be assigned only when actually known? I am wondering how others have treated this myriad of identities for the same individual when entering names into their family files. Denis -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
