Are there any plans to support hispanic last names without workarounds?

Question

Hi all, 

I'm new here and I'm starting to add my tree and wanted to know what was the best way to deal with Hispanic last names. I've gone through previous questions of naming conventions for Hispanic last names, and the most recent one recommends the Spanish naming conventions.

But, among other things that I dislike about this, the convention breaks the search functionality, e.g. searching for <first name> <paternal last name> (without the maternal last name) doesn't find my ancestor. I know I'm not alone in this since there is at least one other person who commented there with the same issue.

It seems like following this convention would make it more likely someone won't find my ancestor unless they include both last names just like I entered them, and this could easily lead to the creation of duplicates.

I'd also like to quote a small part of Michael Granado's reply from this question:

"Evidently the best solution arrived at is to put both surnames in the LNAB field on the grounds that the both names are really one name.  This is incorrect and highly misleading.  It is not intuitive and no database best practise would be to put two pieces of different data in the same field.  The paternal surname and maternal surname are separate pieces of information and are unique to the individual person profile. They are not repeatable in the parents or children of any given person about would only repeat in the siblings of the person."

Besides, the wikitree IDs it creates are useless. I'll also quote Michael from above:

My Great Grandfather, Ramon Granados Marquez

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Granados-67

He would in the recommended naming conventions be rendered in the LNAB field as granados_marquez and becomes the unique profile ID. Not as Granados-67 but as Granados_Marquez-1

Because the ID created combines two family names, the links isolate this person from any other relative who shares their principal last name. In my case, it's the difference between going to the Borrego Villarreal vs. Borrego last names.

In case it helps, here is a good explanation of how Mexican last names work.

Before I decide how to move forward I'd like to ask if there are any plans to implement the DB Schema proposed in this question? Are there any other plans or alternatives to make this a bit more inclusive?

And as a temporal solution, is that convention really the best way to enter Hispanic last names in 2019? Does anyone have tips or a better way, that doesn't break the search or the last name links?

Answer 1

I've been a member for about 5 years. I cannot recall when a change proposal to the database made in the G2G forum has gained any traction. So. I would not expect this to be implemented.

As far as storing the data, for names of "given name, family name" format, putting all the surnames in the one last name field, and all the other nsmes in the first name field works. I have used other websites, and a number of different software programs, and this is standard. I used successfully used one program that handles names of format "family name, given  name" (I.e., Chinese names) properly in reports, charts, and indexes.

If the search functionality were a bit more sophisticated, i.e., being able to search for names that "are," "start with," or "contain" the search term, at least some of your concerns would be addressed. Or, an exact vs fuzzy search, could also be implemented. Or, perhaps the ability to use some Boolean operators.

An alternate name field, that is searchable, that contains all of the parameters of the main name field, would be beneficial.

Comments

I agree with George that the most correct way (given the situation we have to live with) to enter the last name is to do it EXACTLY the way you know it is.  To make searches work, you can then enter each name part individually in the Other Last Names (OLN field).  This field is designed to take multiple entries, all separated with commas.  For example:

LNAB could be Granados Marquez

OLN should then be Granados, Marquez

If you do this then results of a search for either Granados Marquez or Granados or Marquez would include this profile.  This still doesn't address the concern of isolating this profile from others that share only one of the same last names, but it's the best I can think of.

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Thank you both for your answers! It's such a shame that these things are not supported directly in wikitree, but I appreciate the workarounds and tips!

Is there a page where changelogs/features are announced? I'd love to know what sort of changes are implemented and how often are these updates released.

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Here is where they have their "to-do" list, where they claim to track progress.

https://trello.com/b/xTDiSnSW/wikitree-bugs-improvements

When something new is added, it is announced here, in G2G.