Is there a suggestion box for WikiTree?

Question

Is there a suggestion box somewhere on WikiTree? Perhaps I'm too much of a purist, but titles like "King of Scotland" and "of that Ilk" are not nicknames, and I don't think Robert "King of Scotland" Bruce is appropriate for Scotland's most famous monarch. Nor is my Andrew Lynn of that Ilk properly called Andrew “of that Ilk” Lynn. If WikiTree can have enough space in nicknames for King of Scotland, etc., it should be just as easy to have that much space for a suffix, which is what those titles actually are, not nicknames.

Comments

I have no opinion on those profiles + or - but about the "Is there a Suggestion Box for Wikitree"  I just wanted to say, "You found it here on the G2G".

Answer 1

Hi Loretta!  Welcome to WikiTree.com and thank you for your question.  

You did exactly the correct thing by posting a public bulletin board message on the profile in question, and mentioning it here can get everyone's attention. That was correct.

The underlying question is about naming European Aristocrats.  You can read all about that here:   http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Name_Fields_for_European_Aristocrats

The specific guidelines say: 

1. PREFIX FIELD: This is for a title such as 'Sir' or 'Reverend'. A man who was knighted was called Sir. Do not use this field for long titles, such as 'Earl of Angus'. Titles such as that belong in the 'Other Nickname' field. Don’t use this field for ‘King’, ’Duke’, ‘Lady’. For medieval and earlier profiles, ‘Sir’ or 'St" are almost the only acceptable uses of the prefix field.

4. OTHER NICKNAMES: This is where their title belongs (i.e. ‘King of England’, ‘Queen of Scots’, ‘Lord of Dunmow’, etc.). Titles may include numbers (i.e. either ‘Earl of Arundel’ or ‘3rd Earl of Arundel’ is acceptable). This is also where any actual nicknames (i.e., ‘The Younger’, ‘The Poor’, ‘Talvas’, ‘The Loyal’, ‘Copped Hat’, etc.) and translations such as Eléonore, Leonor, Eleanor belong. Do not put any nicknames in quotations. Separate multiple names with a comma. Do not list occupations, such as 'Sheriff of Nottingham' or 'Knight'.

9. SUFFIX: These were not generally used in the Middle Ages. Modern usage includes Jr, Sr, III, IV, and so on. For kings and queens the number should go as part of the Preferred First Name instead of in the Suffix. For example, VI is not an appropriate Suffix for King George VI.

I hope this answers your question about these special naming conventions.  We all have to use the same naming conventions so that we can keep track of the individual profiles and to minimize the creation of duplicates.  If we all used the name for Robert Bruce that we think is correct or appropriate, we would have many duplicate profiles for him.  The mantra to remember is, "One profile per person on the WikiTree."

 

Thanks for a great question!  Kitty 

Comments

You're welcome Kitty, thank you for the answer. Let me say first that I do believe rules are rules. You don’t join the Boy Scouts, for instance, and tell them they have to change the rules. However, while I am new to WikiTree, I certainly am not new to genealogy, and I try never to make assertions of historical or genealogical facts that are mere opinion. I’ve been at this for 35 years with a particular focus on Scotland, with over 200 sources for the surname Lynn and its variants, most of which are historical volumes of the 19^th century (a few 18th and 20th century). I can tell you two things absolutely. First, Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, who served as Lord Lyon 1945-1969, wrote in his 1954 “The Tartans and the Clans and Families of Scotland” that the title “of that Ilk” was granted by royal charter and was part of Scotland’s Law of Name from medieval times. Second, “of that Ilk” was demonstrably in use at least as early as 1325 A.D., when Sir Henry of Prendergast, Lord of that Ilk signed his name to a charter in just that manner (Reference #GD1/967/1 at the National Records of Scotland website http://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue/search.aspx, a government site which includes expertly done transcripts and extracts of documents going back to 1100 A.D.).  As to the profile in question, documents in the charter chest of the Hunters of Hunterston were transcribed by M. S. Shaw, Writer for the Signet, and published in 1925; and the third charter in the chest is dated the last day of February 1452 and is a grant to the Hunters from “Andrew Lyn, lord of that Ilk”, who also appended his seal thereto. So, “Lord of that Ilk” is an official title established by the Scottish government at least as early as 1325, and it is always written as a suffix to the first and last names. All that is not meant just to argue for a change of protocol but is an important aspect of early Scottish genealogy that may be helpful to others.

---

Thanks, Loretta!  Interesting information.  You should probably present this to the leaders of the Scottish Clans Project.  http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Scottish_Clans  The leaders of this project are Maria Maxwell and Doug Straiton together with Nae X and Billy Wallace.  

---

I'll do just that Kitty, and thanks again!