Many of my individuals are from the mediaeval and earlier periods when surnames did not exist. They were often invented by historians, such as "Plantagenet". Legacy makes it simple to find those without surnames.
"Godgifu" had no surname, but was of Wessex, so I have given name "Godgifu of" and use her place "Wessex" as surname. Doing it that way also allows me to find all "Wessex" individuals (Eadgyth, Eafa, Eoppa, Cynric, et al.) Given names is easy too. To show children as siblings, I have many such as "Father of François II & Charles de". When it is known that a daughter of a known individual married another known individual, but the name of the daughter is unknown (very common), I have "many such as "Daughter of Galindo Áznarez I de". Using these names instead of question marks makes it simple to know who the person is in the Index or Name List. And yes, because "de" means "of", it is never part of the surname. There are a few times when, much later, it was incorporated into the surname, for example, "de la Warre" became "Delaware", but that is rare. CE From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [LegacyUG] Unknown Persons Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2015 10:23:43 -0700 Some of the recent messages have prompted this more general question I have about how to enter “names” for unknown persons in Legacy, particularly for persons with no known given or surname. This situation typically arises for a female with no known surname, for whom I have information about her parents that I want to record and have in the database when (if) I find the missing names. I also need parents for siblings to be linked, even if their surnames are unknown. I have always used ??? as the unknown given and/or surname for a person. Legacy warns me against doing so, but allows me to do it. However, if I leave both fields blank, Legacy will prevent me from saving the person. For me, ??? seems to work well, but I’ve often wondered why does Legacy (and other geneaology sources) warn against the use of a questionmark in a name? Are they just referring to the practice of trying to show uncertainty about a name – i.e., John Smith?. I don’t do that. Donald QuigleyEscondido, CAQuigley Doyle Family Treehttp://www.donquigley.net Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://support.legacyfamilytree.com Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
