Entering "unknown" in the Last Name field

[thomprod]

I have been entering the word "unknown" in the Last Name field when I don't know it. Is there a drawback to doing this? Would it be better to just leave that field blank?

[KirkS]

I'll be curious to see the answers to this one. Other methods I've seen for dealing with "unknowns" include:

* "Father" Smith
* "Mother" Smith
* "Infant" Smith
* "Child" Smith
* "Male" Smith
* "Female" Smith
* "Baby" Smith
* "____" Smith

[SGilbert]

I just enter a ?

[dfilpus]

What you use changes where the person gets sorted in lists. I prefer blank, so they get sorted to the beginning of a list, instead of among the "U"s.

[thomprod]

What you use changes where the person gets sorted in lists. I prefer blank, so they get sorted to the beginning of a list, instead of among the "U"s.

Good point, thanks.

[thomprod]

I'll be curious to see the answers to this one. Other methods I've seen for dealing with "unknowns" include:

* "Father" Smith
* "Mother" Smith
...

But in this case, the "unknown" is the Last Name, not the First Name.

[theKiwi]

I put [--?--] in the last name field if it's unknown, and Mr or Miss in the first name if that's unknown.

Roger

[Bruce Christopher]

I have been entering the word "unknown" in the Last Name field when I don't know it.

In a lot of cases I don't put anything in the Last Name field when it is unknown. In those cases, all such people will appear at the top of the People sidebar (or in indexes) ahead of those with last names. If it is a case of an unknown maiden name, I use square brackets [] and in between I enter the surname of a female’s first husband (or only-known husband), e.g., [JOHNSON]. Any index in a report will then include the female’s name under the surname of her husband, with a side effect being that the surname will appear in the index in square brackets, even though the meaning of the brackets only applies to married females with unknown maiden names. The People sidebar will only show the brackets for the wife, not the husband. The original question was about last names but in the case of unknown first names, I usually enter "(male"), "(female)" or "(unknown)" (this assumes I at least have a surname to go with that).

[Michael Talibard]

I use FNU and LNU, for First/Last Name Unknown. To LNU I add a surname in square brackets—typically that of the spouse—so that it sorts in the right family.

[Bob White]

What you use changes where the person gets sorted in lists. I prefer blank, so they get sorted to the beginning of a list, instead of among the "U"s.

I also do blank because the names being at the start of the People list reminds me to review for new information after some time has passed. With the amount of information out on the web growing exponentially during recent years and the much increased ease of connecting with others researching the same people, this recheck works well for me.