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Robert Jacobs

Native American names

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My children are descended from the Montauk indian sachem Wyandance (as in Wyandance on Long Island) on their mother's side. I'd like any suggestions for entering single-word Native American names. And does it make sense to enter (--?--) for the blank name entry, either given or surname?

 

The kids were enormously excited to learn this; it only dashed their spirits a bit when I had to tell them that it comprised only one 4096th of their ancestry.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

 

formerprof

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I usually specify the surname as "--" (double-exclusion). This suppresses the surname and TMG (and SS) will not substitute the missing surname string. The missing surname string doesn't apply in this case; it's not that the surname is unknown, there wasn't one...

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I usually specify the surname as "--" (double-exclusion). This suppresses the surname and TMG (and SS) will not substitute the missing surname string. The missing surname string doesn't apply in this case; it's not that the surname is unknown, there wasn't one...

 

Thank you, John. All good wishes.

 

 

formerprof

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I usually specify the surname as "--" (double-exclusion). This suppresses the surname and TMG (and SS) will not substitute the missing surname string. The missing surname string doesn't apply in this case; it's not that the surname is unknown, there wasn't one...

 

Thank you, John. All good wishes.

 

 

formerprof

 

One observation (a pragmatic one) is that I feel that it is better in these cases to enter the name in the Surname and leave the given name blank or --. The rationale for this approach is that mostly you work with picklists that are sorted by surname when you have a majority of people with Western Names. This method works better for me.

 

A second observation: at some point in time these persons have both a Native name and a Western name, but the restriction of only one name being primary means that you can't get both names on a chart and still have then available in the picklist as entries in the sorted list. How have you overcome this situation?

 

My solution is to have both names as Name-Var, (actually as Name_Native and Name_oWestern custom name tags) one of them is primary, usually the Native name. Also, to enable the second name to appear on charts, I create a custom AKA-Name tag in the Other tag group, enter the name as I want it output in the Memo of this tag. Now I can reference the AKA_Name* Memo in the VCF data lines for output.

 

Does anyone have an alternative to this duplication of data entry?

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My children are descended from the Montauk indian sachem Wyandance (as in Wyandance on Long Island) on their mother's side. I'd like any suggestions for entering single-word Native American names. And does it make sense to enter (--?--) for the blank name entry, either given or surname?

 

The kids were enormously excited to learn this; it only dashed their spirits a bit when I had to tell them that it comprised only one 4096th of their ancestry.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

 

formerprof

 

Some Am. Indians had surnames, while others did not. For what it's worth:

 

For those without a surname or unknown, I use the tribal name as a TMG surname. In my case, the tribe names were Micmaque and Abenaquis. Both tribes were of the Algonquin Nation in old Acadie/Acadia (ceased to exist in 1758, included present day Nova Scotia, P.E.I., New Brunswick and most of Maine). I guess if I run into a case where the tribe is unknown, the Indian Nation name would serve.

 

In practice, either tribe name has functioned as an effective surname for index sorting (finding the individual's data), charts and reports.

 

Best wishes,

Mike Talbot

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