What is the proper location name to use?
My research is in Germany and I've come across some entries in FS that include a location name that is correct for today, but would not have existed when the event took place. For example, in 1975 three towns were united into one community. I have found entries where a pre-1975 event is recorded using the new town name (that didn't exist prior to 1975) instead of the original town name. Then there is the issue of Germany as we know it today not existing before 1949. So, if I add an event in the 1800's should I record the country as "Deutsches Reich"/"German Empire" or Germany?
Best Answer
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The genealogical standard is to use the name-and-jurisdiction that applied at the time of the event, because that's an unchangeable historical fact. FamilySearch's Places database (https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/) contains many such historical labels for places. However, many genealogy websites only use modern names, especially for any mapping/localization features, because modern online mapping services don't have historical jurisdictions in their databases. Even FamilySearch's database is simplified and incomplete (although users like us can suggests improvements) -- and the use of historical placenames really only applies in Family Tree; in indexed historical records, FS generally uses whatever names applied at the time of indexing. (Or whatever the dratted autostandardization algorithm makes out of them, nowadays, which is very often nothing but the country, or something similarly useless.)
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