Never include in a database that which you do not know. If the only record you have on an ancestor is a newspaper death notice which says:
Mrs. Anton Flagstone died on the 5th of August [1890]
then you don’t have her first name. You don’t have her maiden name. The newspaper may not even provide a location of death or burial. There is one thing that you do know. You know that the wife of Anton Flagstone died on 5 August 1890. Don’t enter in her last name as “unknown,” “[—–],” or “who knows?” Leave it blank. You do not know it.
Do the same thing for her first name.
Do not enter her first name as “Mrs,” “Mrs. Anton,” or anything similar. It is fine to leave the first name blank. After all, you don’t know it. Calling her “Mrs. Anton” may cause some programs to inadvertently truncate her name to “Anton” when data is transferred from one program to another. That creates an entirely different problem.
You can enter in the date (and location if the item provides it) and the source. But don’t make up names for someone just because their are blanks. There is no genealogy prize for having the most blanks completed.
Researchers are allowed to have things they do not know. All genealogists have blanks in their database and in their trees. It means they don’t know the information. It does not mean they are an incompetent genealogist.
For a more detailed discussion, see “FNU LNU MNU UNK.“
8 Responses
I do put in –?– to show me that I have considered this, not to feel a sense of completion. I would also enter her last name as Anton-S####. This helps me find her in the database, but says clearly that there is no information. (The S indicates “Spouse of” Anton and the numbers refer to that specific Anton’s reference number within that database.
I have been doing this for my convenience in filing. Is this causing problems for other researchers who might access my files?
The —?— is probably the lessor of all evils, but I would not use it 😉 There’s no actually letters in this approach. I would not use the Anton-S#### at all as there are letters in that name.
This advice is probably good for those who are sharing their trees on line. But if it’s a private tree, made for your own reasons, then you are completely free to do whatever makes the most sense to you, that will help you realize what you do and don’t know. Sometimes placeholders are needed, such as when you know who the person’s grandparents are but haven’t yet figured out the parents. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!
Some programs may require something in the last name field in order to enter the person. Some programs will actually enter a person called unknown if you do not put someone in. If you want to show that two women are sisters but you do not know the father’s name, there has to be something in the name field to create him and link them together.
RootsMagic actually does (I just tried). I really wish it would not force me to have a name because there are times when that could happen.
oK folks, what are thoughts about
adding leading & following U/L’s
( prefixed & suffixed ) to the _FNU_ crew :
resulting in ….
_FNU_
_LNU_
_MNU_
and
_UNK_
…. giving readers SECOND-thoughts ….
vr, TMcC….
I just use UKN Smith or Mary UKN. Works well for my research. Never had a problem, and I know what they are.
Since I started using my first genealogy program PAF, I have always added an unknown spouse by adding what I do know. I hate to see alphabetical lists with 100 Maria names and you would have to click on each to see who she is connected to. I use this method and LOVE IT. First blank I use Maria wife of John (with a long first name I use Maria w/o Alexander. Second blank I use last name of husband. This is really a help when looking at any records with any dates (funeral or burial records). If I know nothing “no name” then I leave it blank.