[Genealogy] Your Name and Exhaustion

[Michael John Neill]

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Genealogy Update 26 January 2026

** Why You Use the Name You Do
** An Unstated Reason for Exhaustive Searches

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Why You Use the Name You Do

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Do you use your “real” name? Or do you use a diminutive based upon your
first or middle name? Do you use a nickname?

In the notes section of your genealogy software indicate why you used the
name you did. Future genealogists and relatives might like to know why you
used it.

I have always used Michael, never “Mike.” This is largely because my family
always called me Michael and mother always said “if I had wanted him called
‘Mike’ I would have named him ‘Mike.'” And I always thought Mike Neill
sounded too short to be an actual name–at least to my ears–probably the
result of being half German where every name needs to be somewhat long and
have a lot of consonant sounds.

I started using my middle name because when I started my job, there was
another guy in town named “Mike Neal” who was always getting arrested for
one various thing or another. That was a way of distinguishing myself.

I know my great-grandmother Neill never used her “real” name of Francis–she
used Fannie on everything, Francis appears ONLY on her birth record.

But jot this sort of thing down in your genealogy notes. Someone in a
hundred years may want to know and you won’t be around to tell them.

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An Unstated Reason for Exhaustive Searches

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Sound genealogical research requires an “exhaustive search” of the records
available on the ancestor or family in question. Generally speaking, it
means searching all materials that could reasonably answer the question.
I’ve long been a fan of searching everything possible–especially in
families pre-1900 in the United States and in other families where the
costs of doing so are not prohibitive.

What qualifies as an exhaustive search is often contextual. How much
research needs to be done and what types of records need to be analyzed
depend on the time period, the location, the specific people people being
researched, and how confusing the family structure is. And even when a
researcher searches most materials and information is completely
consistent, there is always the chance that one more record throws all
those conclusions into question.

That is why a researcher should always completely cite everything that
they’ve used so that another researcher can decide if, in their eyes,
“exhaustive” has been met. They should also indicate the records they’ve
searched where nothing has been located.

But this post really isn’t about that and it certainly is not about
citation.

There’s another reason why an exhaustive search is important, especially
for beginning and intermediate level researchers. That reason is simple:
*education*.

My maternal families are fairly well documented during their time in the
United States from the 1850s and on. Church records, vital records, census
records, all are pretty much in agreement. Rarely do I locate “new” family
members or relationships in land, court, or probate records–at least in
these families. And yet I always searched all the courthouse records on
these families–even when I didn’t think it would tell me anything.

Why?

Well–I’m nosy, and I know that I never know what I’ll find in a record
until I look and I have made some interesting discoveries about their
personal lives in these records. But another benefit is that I learned a
great deal about land, court, probate and other records searching for
families when I “knew” everything about the families ( at least the
genealogical basics of birth, death, marriage, and parent/child
relationships) . The “unexplained” things in the documents, the unstated
relationships that sometimes made things more clear, were things I already
knew. Researching land, court, and probate records on families where I knew
quite a bit about the family helped me learn about the records. I could
focus on the records and what they said–not trying use the records to
determine the unstated relationships. Time in these records on families I
had “figured out” helped me a great deal in learning about those records.
Once in a while a realized a date or relationship was not quite what I had
discovered in other records, but most of the time my work in the court,
probate, land and other records on these families allowed me to really
learn about the records.

And that’s helped me greatly when I’ve researched land, court, and probate
records on other families where I did NOT have church records, vital
records, census records, and other materials to explain things about the
family. I had seen similar records before. I had seen terms before and I
knew what they meant.

Exhaustive searches are necessary to make certain some vital clue has not
been overlooked. But they also help the genealogist to learn about the
records being used when the family is already “documented.” And learning is
never a bad thing.

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January 2026 Full-Text Search at FamilySearch Webinar

Intro price ENDING--regularly $37.50--save $30

-----------------------------

We’re excited to offer this revised presentation on the full-text searching
at *FamilySearch*--reflecting changes made to the site since this was
recorded in August 2025. We’ve redesigned our presentation as this
functionality continues to change. And…we have an extensive handout
complete with forms to help you find more people.

If you have purchased an earlier version of this presentation--email me at
mjnrootdig at gmail.com for the code to order this revision for $10.
Fully Utilizing Full-Text Search: Revised for January 2026

Your purchase includes:

   - *A 90 minute (or more presentation)* you can view as often as you want.
   - *Detailed handout* with charts and forms to help organize your
   searches. Charts and forms sent as separate files you can edit and
   customize and not as a locked PDF you have to re-create yourself as a new
   document.

We’ll be including and discussing:

*Determining what is in Full-Text Search—*what you can access at home and
what you will have to be in a FamilySearch facility or affiliate to access.

*Seeing How AI Transcriptions are different*—they aren’t like the
transcriptions made by humans. That can change your approach.

*Remembering that Full-Text means every word*—approaches need to differ as
we aren’t looking up a name in an index any more.

*Asking Who* is in the record? We aren’t just searching for the main person
like we did with traditional indexes. We’ll discuss how to determine who
could be mentioned in a record.

*Determining How to search?* There are a variety of ways to search and
filter results. We’ll see how each one works to help determine the best
strategy.

*Creating search strategies*—how full-text search changes your approach and
why just dumping terms in search boxes is not always effective.

*Determining what you found* The interface does not always make this clear.
We will show you how to get beyond the confusion and help you get enough
detail for a citation.

*Creating effective problem-solving approaches*—what to do when you cannot
find something you want.

*Demonstrating practical examples*—completely new people and families from
our previous presentations.

Available for immediate download for $30
<https://michael-john-neill.dpdcart.com/cart/add?product_id=246272&method_id=268990>.
Complete handout included and additional forms.
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day

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