> > <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> > > 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 Melson <amia9018@mypacks.net> I thought it was Sweet Ol' Bob, nevertheless... I recognize the use of "Unknown" so all of them wind up in the "U" section of an alpha listing BUT in your personal opinion why would you not use ? or ??? for unknown? I deplore filling the blanks with "good intentions". Don't hold back - I'm used to comments from Sweet Ol' Bobs! 8-) Hugh Eagle@bellsouth.net (J. Hugh Sullivan)