Family Historian User Group

How do I enter St. (saint) in a name and have it show up under S when looking at individual records. Example St. Leger shows up under the "l" page instead of the "s" page when I am looking for a name

Welcome to the FHUG.

I have started a New Topic. You should not Post Reply to an existing topic if you need new advice.

The first step to solve your problem is to change a preference setting.
Use Tools > Preferences > Property Box and change Show Surnames Between Slashes to Always and click OK.

Now your Name box will look something like John St. /Leger/ which says the Surname is Leger to be listed under L.
Alter that to John /St. Leger/ which says the Surname is St. Leger to be listed under S.

Sometimes using a no-break-space between such Surname words is useful so they are treated as if one word.
See how_to:entered_accented_and_other_special_characters|> Enter Accented and Other Special Characters.

If a newcomer to FH you should study how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers.

Just to add you don't actually need to turn the slashes on all time just use them when needed. So typing
James /St. Leger/ for your existing individual will adjust the surname.

Following on from Jane's comment about using the / to define surnames, whenever I enter a wife with unknown surname, I use the form Ann /SMITH Nee ??/, to remind me who Ann is married to. I correct her surname once I have found the marriage.

Periodically, I search for all people with Nee ?? in their surname, and make further attempts to find the missing marriages.

I always use the form Ann (Smith) that shows I don't know her maiden name.
When the maiden name turns out to be the same as the married name I add her father's name (if I know it)

Victor

For those of us with French-Canadian forebears, this is also a good way to handle "dit" names. For example, entering Gilles /Couturier dit Labonté/ ensures that Gilles will be alphabetized under Couturier, where he belongs, rather than Labonté, where he would otherwise wind up.

zoomdoggies wrote:For those of us with French-Canadian forebears, this is also a good way to handle "dit" names. For example, entering Gilles /Couturier dit Labonté/ ensures that Gilles will be alphabetized under Couturier, where he belongs, rather than Labonté, where he would otherwise wind up.

Can you educate me please, what does 'dit' imply. In my ignorance, I've never come across the term.

Welsh have 'Ap', meaning son of as in 'Richard Ap Reece Ap Owen'. Is 'dit' something similar? (My long lost schoolboy french says dit means 'say' )

(My long lost schoolboy french says dit means 'say' )

That's it, in nutshell. It's kind of an alias or an a.k.a., tacked onto a family surname. They were very common among the settlers in Nouvelle France in the 17th century. Many of the settlers initially came as soldiers, and French soldiers typically acquired a dit name as a 'nom de guerre'. A dit name might've been used to distinguish between unrelated families with the same surname living in the same area, or between different branches of the same family. I don't want to go too far off-topic here, but if you're interested, this is a pretty good explanation:

What is a dit Name?

Many thanks!
Great explanation