What's in a Name
News
This site is at an early stage. The initial release on 1st January 2005 was a preliminary version, offered to selected Genealogical Exchange Groups for mass access and user-feedback. It covers the majority of Scottish Forenames. Latin Equivalents have been included for those names already present to facilitate searching older documents.
Many ir not most English, Welsh and Irish Forenames together with many Gaelic Forenames have been incorporated, as have associated European names. These additional categories were completed in September 2010. We are finding that incorporating new names is an increasingly labour-intensive task. Each name usually has several relationships and the task of ensuring that these are consistent is proving more complex than originally thought. But we will press on.
Note that the primary use will be for English-speaking users.
Surnames were originally included where they were relevant to the Forenames in the database but, because spelling variations are too amorphous, we have decided to eliminate these from the site.
We will be updating the database continuously rather than waiting until a given category is completed since it is unlikely that "completion" can ever be achieved.
Later formal releases will be made as and when significant updates have been prepared. A long term goal is to try to include names in other, non-European forms. This will depend on the availability of suitable source material. If anyone can provide such material, please use the Contact Us button to let us know.
There will be continuous updating of the site without notice.
This page last updated January 2011.
