Search of SP with middle name and surname?

Birth, Marriage, Death

Moderator: Global Moderators

Hugo
Posts: 135
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:36 pm
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Search of SP with middle name and surname?

Post by Hugo » Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:29 pm

Can I search SP using the middle name Lawrie (with variants) and surname Donnachie (with variants)? If so, how?

Help obviously appreciated.

PS Happy New Year to everyone.
Hugo

The more you know, the more you know how little you know. (My science teacher)

[scotland-flag]

jaykim
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:42 pm

Re: Search of SP with middle name and surname?

Post by jaykim » Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:40 pm

All you have to do after you log in is pick an option from the drop down menu on the left of Surname and Forename. It gives you all sorts of options. As for the middle name I am sure if you type in the first name then the first letter of the middle name followed by an asterisk that should give you what you want. Just keep trying different inputs. I find that just putting in the first letter of the first name brings up all the matches.

Good Luck
Jaykim

nelmit
Posts: 4002
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 11:49 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Search of SP with middle name and surname?

Post by nelmit » Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:56 pm

Hugo wrote:Can I search SP using the middle name Lawrie (with variants) and surname Donnachie (with variants)? If so, how?

Help obviously appreciated.

PS Happy New Year to everyone.
I just tried searching births for - surname donna* with a forename la*rie and this gets you 7 hits. A look at the results shows all 7 have a middle name of Lawrie/Laurie. 5 at Ayrshire and 2 at Fife.

Regards,
Annette

Montrose Budie
Posts: 713
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:37 pm

Re: Search of SP with middle name and surname?

Post by Montrose Budie » Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:07 pm

Yes, it's possible to search the SP birth indexes using a possible middle name, derived from a surname, as a given name.

Naming pattern possibities apart, this is a very powerful tool to look for births to a set of parents.

Starting in the mid 1850s, aristocratic families apart, it became increasingly common in Scotland for the maiden surname of the mother, and surnames from previous generations, to be used as a middle name.

As far as the SCotlandsPeople birth indexes are concerned, such a middle name is treated as a forename !

In other words, if you are searching for the birth of John Smith BROWN, a search on SP with the forename as SMITH and the surname as BROWN should produce a match; unless, of course, John only adopted Smith as a middle name in later life, - not unusual !

mb

Hugo
Posts: 135
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:36 pm
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Re: Search of SP with middle name and surname?

Post by Hugo » Wed Jan 05, 2011 4:23 pm

Many thanks to you all. It is so simple when you know how!

Annette, Ayrshire and Fife fit in very well with what I know of this branch.
Hugo

The more you know, the more you know how little you know. (My science teacher)

[scotland-flag]

Montrose Budie
Posts: 713
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:37 pm

Re: Search of SP with middle name and surname?

Post by Montrose Budie » Wed Jan 05, 2011 7:09 pm

Hugo wrote:....snipped...........

It is so simple when you know how!

....snipped......
Which applies in more than one area of life !

mb