Surname? Caps or Not?

What Difference Does It Make Anyway?

Why have a SURNAME in all caps? What’s the big deal anyway.

Absolutely none if you never want to share your genealogy or ask for assistance.
And if that’s the case, you are either very new and believe no one will ever want to see your data. [Wrong. People will.]

Plus asking for help — a little embarrassing because you don’t know what to ask for.
OR … you really aren’t into finding out about your ancestors at all. There are people like that out there strange as that may seem. But the chances of them actually reading this post are most likely between slim ‘n’ none. 

So are you JUST asking? Or do you REALLY want to know?

This post is a follow-up to
Enter First Middle SURNAME Correctly in Genealogy.

By the way, those two questions are the way to find out if someone really is willing to hear something they don’t want to. In other words, ready to take the advice they’ve asked for. Otherwise, the person is “just asking” because they think they should or to look like they are cooperating. But the reality is they have no intention of really listening and then doing.[/box]

The Big Deal is…

• your data will not be taken seriously is there is no consistency in the way your given names & surnames are displayed.
• your data will be considered to be of poor quality that it is not even worth looking at.

Ouch but it’s the truth that comes with Tough Love.

It’s tough enough finding out that data you’ve offered to others either as an addition to their family or as information for your own is not being taken “seriously“.

But think about other areas of your life. How about a teacher who in class and in handouts has some states shown in all lower case & others all caps?

Or a legal document that has YOUR name but shown on different pages in different formats?

Or a magazine or book?

Understand that the lack of consistency in one area
–an area that is key–
impacts how seriously YOU view information.

Tougher yet is the second bullet. Such poor quality that it is not even worth looking at.

You’ve posted your tree on Ancestry.com.
It’s been there a while. In fact a pretty LONG while.
And no one has contacted you. Not once.

I might have seen your tree.
And I would have completely ignored it.
Sorry, but the truth is most people are going to ignore your tree completely if they see all lower case for given names & surnames.

If there are just a few surnames in lower case, no problem. That can happen. But I’ve seen numerous trees as ‘potential 5-8th cousins’ on Ancestry DNA matches that I never have given a second look once I see such lack of care with the names of the very ancestors they seek.

WHY? Because if you don’t care enough to be consistent with the names,
then I expect even less from your attention to detail for sources.

Sadly, that is a lesson learned the hard way. That lesson, unlearned, is one of the reasons I have a genealogy mess today.

I was too trusting and too naive.

In other words, I didn’t know better.

So — Do It Right or Do It Over!

Fortunately for you, adapting to a standard convention for given names & surnames in your data is easy for you to fix. Future suggestions or advice won’t always be easy to “do over”. Trust me on that. It’s what I’m having to do right now.