Indexing - checking place names
There are "official" place names decided by FamilySearch. However, what if the place name doesn't have a good "official" option? For example, I checked on the name of a person who died in 1860 Liverpool. The only official option was the place name that came about in 1974. In 1860, the place name would have been different, e.g. Merseyside as a region didn't exist then. I only had the option to choose the 1974 name. In 1860, the place name would have been Toxeth, Liverpool, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom. (Toxeth is a particular area in Liverpool.) Also, for another person, the only option for her was London, England, United Kingdom according to the "official" place name. But she came from a particular part of London, Limehouse (in the dock area of London). So, the "names" are not consistent. For a large city, wouldn't it be better to have the area of that city which was named during that time period rather than a blanket place name such as London? I know you don't want to have too many details, e.g. adding a particular parish in a large city, but with these two instances, the place names are inconsistent for how a large city is categorized, one (Liverpool) had an area added, the other (London) only the large city. It's particularly important for London which now called the Greater London area that didn't come about until 1965 encroached on towns and villages in the surrounding counties: Essex, Surrey, Hertfordshire, and Kent. (Middlesex, where London used to be, is no longer a county but absorbed into the County of London in 1889. In fact, the user created place name for the time period was more correct than the FamilySearch option.) Why can there not be an option for indexers to create a more accurate name that could be verified by FamilySearch? Right now, inaccurate place names are being perpetuated.
Answers
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You can suggest that we add a place to the FamilySearch database of standardized places. Here is a help article that can help you do just that:
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@KarenPierotti1 - I'm just a user with an interest in placenames, particularly those of my native NW England.
You can choose a standard placename of "Toxteth, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom" which is applicable from 1801-1974 . Now admittedly this doesn't include "Liverpool" which appears to have been the County Borough for Toxteth from 1835, but it's always a moot point in my personal view whether suburbs should be named as part of their surrounding city or not.
On the other hand, nearby Everton is in Liverpool from 1835 onward to 1974 - specifically it's "Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom" having been "Everton, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom" from 1801-1835.
So if you do want a change to be made, you could suggest Toxteth be in Liverpool from 1835 just like Everton. But the response to that might be that Everton shouldn't be in Liverpool, after all, Tuebrook and Wavertree (to take two suburbs at random) aren't.
Whatever you decide to ask - good luck but be prepared to consider issues, not least the sheer volume of stuff that these guys have to deal with.
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