Should I start a One Name Study?

Question

Hello everybody,

I was thinking that I am at the One Name Study point of my genealogy research but have very little time for it on a regular basis. I have at least four very good surnames to use in One Name Studies between my 8 great-grandparents. By this I mean, I have seen lots of different people with those names but most of them don't match my part of the family in any clearcut way yet. If I start a One Name Study would I have to be the main leader? Could I just be a co-founder until I have more time on my hands?

By the way, the surnames as I currently know them are Hruska/Hruschka/Ruschka/Ruska (originate from Domazlice, Bohemia, CR), Trizzino/Trissino ("z" from Sicily/"s" from Vicenza, Italy), Davey/Davy (originally lived in Ireland/England) and May/Maye (lived in Ireland/England). All had descendants in the US by 1920.

As usual any of your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Mike

Comments

We could do a One Name study of all persons named Michael!

Michael

---

That would be interesting haha but I don't know how much connection we'd find from it. It would be fun for sure though

Answer 1

Hi Michael

It does sound like a One Name Study may be able to further your genealogical research. What you may want to do is begin a study & invite others with the same surname to participate. Then you can have more than one manager.

Comments

I am the only Trizzino/Trissino on here as far as I can tell but I don't see a problem with trying that for the others.

---

I started four name studies:

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:May_Name_Study

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Trizzino_Name_Study

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Davey_Name_Study

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Hruska_Name_Study

Unfortunately, I could not start the categories for them because I am not a supervisor.

Answer 2

Michael,

I have found that approach to be very helpful in connecting people in my lines. However, Ancestry.com is an easier place to do that because you can enter in people who are not connected, then connect them when you do find the link (might be from somebody else's tree), you can also merge records if you find that an individual is linked to another. I hope that helps a little.

PS Sorry, but my one-name searches ate not connected to any of the family names you listed...

Answer 3

Mike

I would never want to dissuade someone from a one-name study  as I am having so much fun with mine. :)

The only advice that I would give is 1) to do a bit of research to see how easy or difficult you would find it getting data in another country.  Genealogy is a popular hobby in some countries but not in others & that may mean that data is not readily available. 2) Try & find out how large your study could get. What might be an unusual name in one country could be very popular somewhere else.

regards Gina