Home› Welcome to the FamilySearch Community!› FamilySearch Help› Indexing

Do you index "Jr" and "Sr" as part of the surname or given names?

LukeChapman1
LukeChapman1 ✭
December 5, 2021 in Indexing

I don't know whether to put jr and sr as part of the surname or given names.

0

Best Answers

  • John Empoliti
    John Empoliti ✭✭✭✭✭
    December 5, 2021 edited December 5, 2021 Answer ✓

    Hi @LukeChapman1 .

    Jr and Sr are "suffixes" (come after the name). Unless there is a separate Suffix field, Jr and Sr do NOT get indexed in just about every project.

    Similarly, Mr., Mrs, Miss, etc., are "prefixes" (precede or come before the name), and unless there is a separate Prefix field, those typically don't get indexed either.

    NOTE: Often, the Field Help (purple question mark) for Given Names or Surname (check both) will mention one or both of these cases.

    6
  • John Empoliti
    John Empoliti ✭✭✭✭✭
    December 7, 2021 Answer ✓

    Hi @Kindred, Jalene . If the final indexed entries for that father and son pair are identical - in ALL required fields - then only one instance of those identical entries is needed to represent both of them (and those two individuals) for the purposes of a search result. When your indexing work draws them to the page/image, Researchers will see both names and their relationship . Note the following from the What to Remember About This Project section of the Instructions:

    • .Index each unique name. Some names may be duplicated. When names are exact duplicates, meaning that all required fields are the same, index only the first instance of the name listed. Skip the other exact duplicates and then index the next unique name. Unique names include names with different middle initials and different name spellings or where the other required fields are different.


    1
  • annewandering
    annewandering ✭✭✭✭✭
    December 19, 2021 Answer ✓

    The thing about Jr. and Sr is they would both show up in the same hints. When the researcher goes to their hint they will see both the Jr and the Sr even though the suffix was not indexed. Indexing both is a duplication of effort.

    1

Answers

  • Kindred, Jalene
    Kindred, Jalene ✭
    December 7, 2021

    How do index then the different father and son with the same name appearing in the same document?

    When you don't add the jr or sr it looks like you have indexed the same person twice. I have seen this on many of the land records I am indexing.

    Jalene

    0
  • LukeChapman1
    LukeChapman1 ✭
    December 19, 2021
    https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/411317#Comment_411317

    Thank you. This helped a lot.

    1
Clear
No Groups Found

Categories

  • 30K All Categories
  • 24.1K FamilySearch Help
  • 122 Get Involved
  • 2.7K General Questions
  • 442 FamilySearch Center
  • 461 FamilySearch Account
  • 4.4K Family Tree
  • 3.4K Search
  • 4.7K Indexing
  • 634 Memories
  • 6.5K Temple
  • 321 Other Languages
  • 34 Community News
  • 6.6K Suggest an Idea
  • Groups