As a variation on this theme, what about changes to the spelling of town names? In one town, they began to spell the name differently in the 1840's. Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone ----- Reply message ----- From: "Harold Henderson" <librarytraveler@gmail.com> Date: Sun, Oct 21, 2012 10:50 am Subject: [TGF] Name variants To: "Michael Hait" <michael.hait@hotmail.com> Cc: "Transitional genealogists forum" <transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com> What Michael said. I believe that is how top genealogy magazines handle these situations, which of course happen all the time. Elizabeth raises by implication an interesting point: how to deal with judges or instructors whose opinions do not seem altogether reasonable. If ProGen doesn't help (and in this case EE, 1st ed., 2.16 on p. 50 helps some), then see what NGSQ, NEHGR, and NYGBR do. Harold On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 9:04 AM, Michael Hait <michael.hait@hotmail.com>wrote: > 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. > > For example, in a recent case, my client's grandmother's maiden name was > "Pinder." The records actually use the spelling "Penders" most often before > say 1935. After then, the "Pinder" spelling is used almost exclusively. I > used the standardized spelling "Pinder" for the genealogical summaries and > for the narrative, but put "(alt. Penders)" after the first use, and then > put the actual spelling used in quotation marks when discussing specific > actions directly from specific records. > > > > Michael Hait, CG(sm) > michael.hait@hotmail.com > http://www.haitfamilyresearch.com > "Planting the Seeds" Blog: http://michaelhait.wordpress.com > > CG and Certified Genealogist are service marks of the Board for > Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certificants > after periodic competency evaluation, and the board name is registered in > the US Patent & Trademark Office. > -----Original Message----- > From: Elizabeth Banas > Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2012 9:54 AM > To: Transitional genealogists forum > Subject: [TGF] Name variants > > > > > > Good morning! > > When I submitted a report for the NGS American Genealogy: Home Study Course > in which I referred to a surname as you have suggested, I was called out by > the person who graded the report. I was told to refer to the name in all > variant forms, separated by a forward slash (solidus) throughout the > document. > > There are so many differing opinions on these issues, it is confusing. I > referred to Professional Genealogy. Name variants are not covered. > > Elizabeth Banas > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to