Gibraltar—Civil Records, 1848–1990 Birth Record Baptismal Name
I have some records where the name is recorded as "none" but there is a "Baptismal Name" should this be indexed as the name of the child, or should it be indexed as blank?
https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/4501cf19-7a47-4ce8-a761-21c64ec22da7
Best Answer
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Yes, those are the children's names.
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Answers
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Perhaps I should have waited for a response to your comment from @jonathonhyrumkoyle1, but I believe the question concerns an entry of "None". Project instructions do not seem to address whether these should be indexed as "None" (for the Child's Given Names), or if that field should be left blank, or if the baptismal name should be indexed (if present in such cases). True, on the page concerned there are two examples showing a Baptismal Name (although in one case, no firrst names are given in either field) - but the PI does not give advice on how to index these "None" entries (Baptismal Name field completed, or not).
Whilst it does appear to be "common sense" to index what is available, I know from my relatives' records that the baptismal names often do not match the ones in the civil registration records. From examples of queries raised previously, over similar issues, the responses are always related strictly to following the PI, (even though this often proves not to be to the advantage of the researcher once the records go online).
Useful as it seem to index the Baptismal Name (where shown), surely this advice should have formed part of the PI for this specific project, if that is indeed the intention here? Personally, my only question here would have been whether to leave the Child's Given Name field blank, or to input "None".
(Honestly, no personal criticism of your advice. I'm just basing my comments on previous responses to my calls for "common sense" to prevail in such cases, but being told that's not how FamilySearch indexing works - indexers must always follow the PI to the letter.)
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I don't know why a child that wasn't named at the time of the birth registration shouldn't have the name that was given later indexed. The only ones with a baptism name are those who weren't named after birth, which seems to me that they were simply named later and they would have to be named for the baptism. I would index them. Maybe someone else would have a different opinion.
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Whoever made the index cards seemed to think those were the names.
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Part of the problem lies in the fact that the person who wrote the PI for this project won't be reading this, nor does there seem to be any way to get in contact with him / her, for the definitive answer. Any responses made here are likely to come from experienced indexers - some of whom (like yourself) will see the importance of indexing a name in whatever column it appears, but others will be pedantic and insist on only indexing what is in the "Name, if any" column - because the PI is about "How to Index a Birth Record".
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Sorry, that just shows my ignorance about how indexing projects (specifically this one) work. I assumed the indexing was based purely on the original register - as illustrated in the original post: I had no idea indexers might have access to "index cards", too. Would the original poster also have these available to refer to whilst indexing the actual register, I wonder? As you can see, I'm not an indexer, just "chipping in" from the perspective of a researcher who is often unable to find an indexed record because of the manner / format in which it has been indexed. (e.g. due to vital data from the record omitted from being indexed due to the PI.)
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Paul, I just searched the names on Family search and found those cards. Anyone can do that. The Field Help says to index the name. It doesn't say it has to come from the "name, if any" column. We always index names even if written in the margin later. The examples have us indexing the names from that column because that's where the names are usually given and where they happen to be on those examples. But there's also the name column for a name given at baptism if the child wasn't named when the birth record was written. So there are two name columns. I would get the name from whichever column it was in.
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Birth records frequently state "none" for name of child. and indexers are using that for records. However, they are ignoring the Baptismal Name field.
Please add an example of how to use Baptismal Name field in your Indexing Instructions.
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From what I have read in the past, it seems practically impossible for indexers to contact the people who write project instructions, either directly or through a moderator. If a preview was made of these records, the project leader should have been only too aware of this query being likely to arise and included suitable advice within the PI.
I hope I am wrong and this matter can be addressed "officially". Otherwise, you will need to rely on your on own judgment and the common sense approach recommended by Barbara at the other thread.
If the finished project is to later act as a helpful finding aid (i.e., once the material is added to the online database), it would seem perfectly reasonable to index the Baptismal name, rather than recording "None".
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While an example would be most helpful, it is covered in the field helps:
Include all aliases, nicknames, or variant names that were given for a person, separating them with the word Or.
We index variant names that were recorded for a person. Thus, a baptismal name would be a variant, even if the child had another name. That baptismal name should be indexed in the given and surname fields, as appropriate - with using an Or, or course.
I hope that when they start to clean the data, a record will be produced with all those indexed as NONE. Then a FamilySearch team can make sure that the reviewers caught all of the baptismal names.
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I need to be clear on the above post that I can no longer edit.
IF there is ONLY a baptismal name, then you would not use OR. There is never a reason to index the word NONE or abbreviations like NMN (No Middle Name), FNA, AKA, etc., unless the project instructions or field help specifically state to do so.
Now, it the child' birth certificate name was simply Marie and the baptism name was Maria Elizabeth, then you would use the OR:
Given Name: Marie or Maria Elizabeth
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