Dealing with Titles
Anyone with Royal or Noble Ancestors will Understand this Problem
You may have difficulty recording complex names that have extra components, like Duke or "the Third". Knowing how to properly organize names can come in handy.
If you have any people in your family tree of noble birth, royalty, or even just military standing, you have probably come across awkward names to deal with. Specifically, extra elements to the name that need to be recorded properly. Prefixes like Dr. or Capt. are fairly easy to handle, but they can get more complicated.
The problem arises for those of us who use software programs to record our family tree data. My own program (RootsMagic) has fields for first name, surname, prefix, suffix and nickname. That is a pretty common set of naming fields, though not all programs will have the same ones. Having separate fields for the different name parts can make it easier for searching, but it can also get confusing when you need to decide what goes in each area.
Whereas there is a defined and proper way to address people with various titles, there is no "official" way to enter these names into a genealogy program. Especially since programs can vary in terms of fields and organizational structure. So how do you deal with the names?
The best plan of action is to take some time and decide for yourself how you want to organize these names, and stick to that plan. Don't worry overly much about whether or not it is right, just be consistent with your naming once you begin. Here are some examples of naming rules, to give you a place to start.
Here is someone in my tree, for example:
Duke of Aquitaine, William the ninth
This name would break down as follows:
- First name: William IX
- Surname: (none)
- Prefix: Duke
- Suffix: of Aquitaine
- Nickname: (none)
So, in my software, this name would be recorded:
Duke William IX of Aquitaine
Place all titles as prefixes and their location as suffixes, but you could just as easily keep them together like this:
Duke of Aquitaine, William IX or
William IX, Duke of Aquitaine
Personally, I have one exception to this, for higher royalty. I would use King of England, Henry II rather than King Henry II of England.
Keep all numeric designations along with the first name (because many people in my tree pre-date the use of surnames). All nicknames go in the nickname field, even when the nicknames are the commonly used name for a historic figure. Richard the Lionheart did not have the surname "Lionheart". You should also resist the urge to put place names in the surname field. As in the above example, William did not have a surname, so "of Aquitaine" should not be considered one.
Also note, that in my example, this person was the ninth William not the ninth Duke of Aquitaine. So be careful not to associate the numeric with the wrong part of the name.
These rules work well for me, though they may not suit your own needs. After spending enough time scrolling through the various dropdowns and pick lists in my program, I simply found that arranging the names this way worked best for my ongoing research.
