It does seem impractical to carry around all that baggage and deposit it at every reference to the associated person or place. I could be out on a limb here but I handle people and places in a similar way since they have many common aspects (e.g. concurrent name variants, colloquialisms, name changes over time). I have a single normalised reference for each one (usually the most common name but not always), and then have a list of the name variants under a dedicated heading for that person or place. It's more of a separate heading than either a footnote or endnote. For places, in particular, I can then include notes on boundary changes, parishes, etc., under the respective heading rather than scattered all over. Of course, in the context of a specific record then I also include the actual transcription of the name if it was questionable or unusual in anyway, just as others have suggested. Tony Proctor ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fredric Z. Saunders" <fzsaund@ix.netcom.com> To: "'Transitional genealogists forum'" <transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2012 6:19 PM Subject: Re: [TGF] Name variants >I do the same as Michael stated. The only slight addition I would make is > that if I have copies of an original signature (and they are consistent) I > would use that as the "standard spelling" for **that** individual when > referring to them, even if there are "more" records under a different > spelling as written by clerks. > > Of course there are exceptions to everything. One that comes to mind is a > German immigrant who signed his name with one spelling, but appeared in > all > American records under a different spelling. An example is an ancestor > Henrich Weidemann (as signed) who was Henry Wideman in all American > records. > I would start the discussion of him with that while he appeared in all > American records as Henry Wideman, he consistently signed his name as > Henrich Weidemann, and then use Henry Wideman as the "standard" spelling. > > Rick Saunders > > -----Original Message----- > From: Michael Hait > Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2012 8:05 AM > To: Elizabeth Banas; Transitional genealogists forum > Subject: Re: [TGF] Name variants > > I generally will use the most-frequent or most-common spelling when > referring to the person in general, but when referring to a record, I will > use that spelling, in quotation marks. Citations always use the spelling > on > the record. Alternatively if there is a standardized spelling I will use > that. <snip> > > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > message