Name Meaning

tiffanikimikorobison1

My mom’s side of the family are Sakotas. In Japan, it would be Sakoda, but the name was changed upon emigration. The computer-generated “Name Meaning” assigned to my family is quite offensive, as we are, in fact, not Native American. For example, look at John Sakota, record number KWZJ-8ZQ.  

blob:https://community.familysearch.org/adabe8b8-9cd4-4712-9944-375190d85b61

blob:https://community.familysearch.org/9ab3a6f1-97ed-4cbc-af23-321955c16e95

Is there any possibility that you can remove the name meaning? It is racist for you to assume that Japanese people would have a native American name meaning--even if it is computer generated. 

Maile L

@lyleblunttoronto1, could you pass this on?

Paul W

Whilst the source used by FamilySearch for these name meanings often produces definitions that prove to be controversial, even highly upsetting, to those with the same / similar surnames, I would hardly define this as "racist".

Incidentally, Wikipedia has this definition:

Šakota (Serbian Cyrillic: Шакота) is a Serbian and Croatian surname, derived from a nickname[1] itself from the word šaka, meaning "hand".

I am sure the many Jews who anglicised their names when coming to England or the United States would not expect an definition of their original surname to be provided, or consider (say) receiving a definition for "Berkeley" (instead of the original "Berkowitz") to be racist, or offensive.

The best idea is to just ignore these suggestions, as they are often wrong for a complete variety of reasons.

lyleblunttoronto1

I've created a note for the right team.

lyleblunttoronto1

I think you can see that this information is valuable to many people, even when working with a limited data set or understanding.

@tiffanikimikorobison1 without completely removing the feature, what could be done to make the experience more palatable?