Starting names with lower case

Question

Working on a profile for k.d. lang (Kathryn Dawn Lang) a singer songwriter.  And she does go by all lower case letters!  So, I try and put k.d. into the preferred name and, of course, the 'k' gets capitalized ... ditto for the 'l' in Lang.  Anyway to get around this?  I've tried quotes and back slashes and such.

Comments

Bob, Bear in mind that her name at birth was actually Kathryn Dawn Lang, rather than k d lang.  Any one else wishing to enter information about her could inadvertantly create a duplicate if they enter the correct name at birth.

I have tried fiddling around with a profile and cannot get it to give the desired result (which should be a preferred name rather than her actual name).

Your best bet would probably be to write something at the top of the biography to indicate her preferred way of writing her name.

Margaret

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Hi Bob, you might want to try "Birth Name - first and last" and enter k.d. lang under the "other nickname".  Then you can further explain if you need to.  I think you will see it in "k.d. lang" - not sure what "Public will see".  Restriction may make it read K.Lang.  Although one trick I used to use in word was to put in a space before the character to keep it from captalizing.

Regards.

Answer 1

I'm afraid there's no easy way around some of these things.

We decided to force capitalization on some fields because it was very common for people to make the mistake in data entry of not entering them. Doing an auto-correction like this has its costs.

Comments

Just a thought - - can this type of information be noted on the pages re: how to enter data/detail?  It would help prevent doing or trying to do something to no effect if we understood a bit better from the beginning.  Just a simple note on the "w"'s that apply (why, what, when, who, where, etcl).

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Thanks for explaing this Chris. I tried to correct the LNAB of Pierre dutoijt because this is what can clearly be read on the baptismal record. It gets automatically capitalized, though I can live with it (and also you explaination). Just happy that the suffixes do not automatically get capitalized (except when initially creating profiles).

 

Answer 2

Bob,  Hi!  I would put it in correctly as aka: k.d. Lang   Then I would create a note and explain why or how that is the correct way to spell it.  Hopefully, someone can come up with a better answer than me.  Because, you understandingly want it the right way.  Sorry, I could not be more helpful.

Comments

Barbara, I think Bob is saying that he does put it in correctly as k d lang, but Wikitree alters it to capitalise it.

Maybe the only way is to accept the capitalisation, but enter a note at the top of the biography with the correct way of writing it.

Margaret

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If you are one of the English Speaking Peoples, then the capitalisation is correct, and the use of lower case, regardless by whom,  is incorrect.

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Not for a name. You can't really apply a language's rules to a person's name and say they're spelling it wrong.

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This lady was born as Kathryn Dawn Lang, that is what her parent's named her, it is her correct name at birth (if internet sources are correct) and capitalisation is correct, as Tim says.

As an adult, she prefers to call herself k d lang, which she is fully entitled to do, and Lianne is right in that you can't say that she is spelling it incorrectly.

As Wikitree encourages people to enter profiles with correct details at birth, there should be some way of presenting her as ''Kathryn Dawn Lang, aka/otherwise k d lang'', which there doesn't appear to be.

Margaret

 

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I confess I do get annoyed when folk forget to use capitals for people and place names. There is no excuse for it, just being lazy, and disrespectful. It is elementary stuff, you don't need a degree in English language.