Changing blank surnames to Unknown?

[Kathy C]

In my file are a LOT of people with no surnames. Just so you all don't get the idea I'm a crummy researcher, most of my ancestry is from the Azores and Portugal. In those places. back in time, women rarely had a surname and children were not given one, only taking a surname when they become an adult or they marry. So, I have a ton or more of names with no surname attached.

So, how can I add something to the surname field, such as Unknown, of each person that needs it? Find and Replace doesn't populate the "Replace all occurrences of:" with anything if you leave it blank. Is there any way to do this, short of editing a gedcom, which I REALLY don't want to do?

Thank you to anyone that offer advice on this.

[ttl]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

While it's not as nearly as slick as a find and replace, one thing that might bring the task down a notch is to open the people sidebar in a list and sort on the field you want to edit. You can then actually edit the field in the list, at least for names. This puts everything in one place and obviates the need to cycle through person edit panes.

[Kathy C]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

Thanks, Tim. That might be how I'll have to do this.

[theKiwi]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

Add me to the list of people who wish that Find and Replace would operate on a blank field!

Roger

[rodrigue]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

Add me to the list of people who wish that Find and Replace would operate on a blank field!

Roger

And me too.

[B Jansen]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

Kathy,

I don't know if this would work for you, but someone on here (maybe years ago) suggested putting the husband's surname in [brackets] in place of unknown. That way when searching in that family, those people show up. I've found this really helpful and a great way to discern which "Mary" is the wife of so and so.

[clairebettag]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

From theKiwi:
Add me to the list of people who wish that Find and Replace would operate on a blank field!

Roger
And me too.

Add me to the list.

[Kathy C]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

Kathy,

I don't know if this would work for you, but someone on here (maybe years ago) suggested putting the husband's surname in [brackets] in place of unknown. That way when searching in that family, those people show up. I've found this really helpful and a great way to discern which "Mary" is the wife of so and so.

That is a very intriguing idea! I like it better than Unknown or Unnamed! I think I may give that a try. I can't think of any down side to this, can you?

Also, for all of us that would like Find and Replace to operate with blank fields, I did post that to the Wish List forum.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

I think I may give that a try. I can't think of any down side to this, can you?

I've been doing this for years. If there's a down side I haven't found it. The nice part is that Reunion ignores the brackets - [ ] - when alphabetizing, and when looking up in the index, so if you type "Brown, Abigail", you get a mixture as shown.

[Kathy C]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

It all looks good to me! Thanks, guys, for the suggestion!

[bonniegaia]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

I've been doing something similar to get around having a useless list of 'Unknowns' in my Index. I use the woman's married name but preceded by bullet dot which makes a visual indent in the Index.

Then, so there's no mistaking, I add "w" for wife followed by the husband's first name. This gives more info in the Index and is especially helpful in case of innumerable Marys, etc. /Users/bonnie/Desktop/Screen Shot 2015-06-28 at 6.40.58 AM.png

oops - how do I get a screenshot to show ?

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

oops - how do I get a screenshot to show ?

You have to upload it using the "Attach Files" part of the "Additional Options" section found when you reply on a thread. Click on "Manage Attachments".

The only thing that works, that I've found, that you can "type" into this message space is websites.

Hope this helps.

[Kathy C]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

I've been doing something similar to get around having a useless list of 'Unknowns' in my Index. I use the woman's married name but preceded by bullet dot which makes a visual indent in the Index.

Then, so there's no mistaking, I add "w" for wife followed by the husband's first name. This gives more info in the Index and is especially helpful in case of innumerable Marys, etc. /Users/bonnie/Desktop/Screen Shot 2015-06-28 at 6.40.58 AM.png

oops - how do I get a screenshot to show ?

I would love to see your screenshot! To attach a file, look under where you type your post in to Additional Options.

This is what I dearly love about the Reunion Forums! Knowledgable folks who share their ideas and expertise ..... and then there's always the Leister folks who contribute here, as well.

Thanks!

[Kim]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

I also do something similar when I don't know a woman's birth name. I use her married name in the surname field, then add the husband's first name, enclosed in parentheses, just after her given name. I add her title of Mrs. if the prefix field. That makes it easy for me to know who she is linked with and that I need to do some more research for her.

(Unfortunately, I've just started doing this a couple of months ago and still have many 'UNKNOWN's that I need to change.)

[Michael Talibard]

Re: Change blank surnames to Unknown?

I use something I learned here in ReunionTalk - LNU for last name unknown, with marital surname in square brackets. It sorts as shown. See also FNU for first name unknown, and anon for babies that are known to have died without receiving any given name.