> <snip> > > Bob- > > It may seem HARMLESS until you are confronted with thousands of > Newbie (and some not so Newbie) genealogists searching for years in > vain for the LNU ancestors. I even had one gal tell me she never > realized she had Mandarin Chinese ancestors until she found FNU LNU > and figured it was a Chinese ancestor. For about a year (until the > board was eventually put out of its misery) I adminned the LNU > message board at RootsWeb and dutifully wrote to all the posters > letting them know they were probably searching in vain for their > wild LNUs. > > Joan <JYoung6180@aol.com> Joan, Believe me, I do understand that human stupidity has no limits - I learned the hard way while doing tech support at IBM in the early '90s, I won't regale you with my favorite stories, however; suffice to say they amply illustrate the point. But the present case seems to me to be somewhat otherwise, given the lack of consensus on the right and proper way, however you wish to define right and proper, to indicate unknown name elements. In many ways, it seems to be a High Church/Low Church or big-endian/ little-endian argument with no hope of resolution. The lack of consensus is clearly illustrated by the article you originally cited, with no one method clearly favored. What do _I_ use? I leave the unknown portion of the name blank. Why? Because I don't like any of the other alternatives, including FNU. That said, methinks the right answer to the OP is "whatever works for you, but be ready to explain yourself". Swell Ol' Bob -- Robert G. Melson | Rio Grande MicroSolutions | El Paso, Texas ----- A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have. Thomas Jefferson Bob Melson <amia9018@mypacks.net>