* Opinion: Noble Monikers Best Practices

[USMC7312]

I was just curious what might be considered best practices for this situation. Take this person for example:

Maud of Lancaster (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_of_L ... _of_Ulster)
**Assuming Wikipedia is correct**

Name: Matilda Plantagenet
Born: c. 1310
Died: 5 May 1377, Bruisyard Abbey in Suffolk, England, United Kingdom
Noble House: Lancaster

Using the Add Title Feature inside the More (+) button on the individual Property Box
Title: Countess of Ulster
Title: Lady de Ufford

I created an attribute called AKA which I added Maud of Lancaster

QUESTIONS:
1. Would it be better to use my custom attribute AKA or create a new name under More(+) with just the nickname being Maud of Lancaster

The dilemma I am dealing with here is that I want Maud of Lancaster to be searchable easily under names, so putting this in a custom attribute seems to be the wrong path.

2. Given the first nickname would be included in the primary name entry added. If I was to add this moniker as a nickname by using More(+), is it best practice to add duplicate data for name, prefix, suffix, etc. Lets say Maud of Lancaster had a few nicknames. Would you add Matilda Plantagenet in the name field along with her prefix and suffix for each nickname or would it be better to just have the nickname for each additional nickname?

[tatewise]

Firstly, I am not sure that Matilda Plantagenet is the name of the person you are discussing.
The following websites suggest someone completely different:
https://www.myheritage.com/names/matilda_plantagenet
https://gw.geneanet.org/belfast8?lang=e ... &p=matilda
Maybe you meant to say Maud Plantagenet?

Regarding Titles, they are Attribute facts and can be assigned a Date when the Tile was awarded.
e.g. Lady Ufford would have the Date of 1343 when Maud married Sir Ralph de Ufford.

I suggest you don't use Nickname at all, as that does not seem appropriate, and rarely appears in Diagrams or Reports.
Instead use Suffix that has the advantage of appearing in most Reports by default.

What exactly do you mean by "searchable easily under names"?
What search process had you in mind: Edit > Find, using a Query, or what?

[AdrianBruce]

I have never been very happy with the way that I handle multiple nicknames for the same Primary or Alternate Names. In fact, I'm not even sure I have a consistent way of doing it. But I really would not regard "Maud of Lancaster" as being a nickname.

Adding "of Lancaster" as a name Suffix to the Primary Name would surely result in various reports or diagrams showing her as "Maud Plantagenet of Lancaster" (or whatever her Primary Name is). I say "various reports or diagrams" because I can't remember whether they print out of the box like that - my reports and diagrams show Suffixes but that may be because I've made it so. But I can say that, out of the box, a name Suffix will not appear in the Individual's Records Window - the name shown will simply be the given and family name, i.e. "Maud Plantagenet" (or whatever) and the name Filter on the Individual's Records Window will not search the Suffixes. So this may not be what you want.

In addition, if you do set "of Lancaster" as a Suffix, and if your reports and diagrams are set to show the Suffix, it then becomes a question of whether you think her full name really is "Maud Plantagenet of Lancaster" or whether her names are "Maud Plantagenet" and "Maud of Lancaster". I guess you'd need to see what medieval genealogists do for those cases - though I should add that the only time I've looked in a medieval genealogy mailing list, it was not a pleasant experience.

I tend personally from no experience whatsoever to imagine that she has (at least) two names - "Maud Plantagenet" and "Maud of Lancaster". "Maud Plantagenet" is the Primary Name and "Maud of Lancaster" is an Alternate Name accessed via the More... link. The only(?) issue then becomes where do you put the // that surround the family name part? The default will be that it automatically goes round the "Lancaster" - I would worry then if there is any report / diagram that shows the full list of given names, because then she'll appear as "Maud of". I'd take a wild guess though, that reports etc, will show her either as "Maud of Lancaster" (i.e. the full name) or "Maud" (i.e. the first given name only) if they show the Alternate name at all.

I've just tried a little bit of playing around with that set-up - enough to confirm major gotchas like how the name filters ignore suffixes but the rest is really just things for you to think about.