Updated: 1 Jun 2000

Important Notes

The Surname Rule

The Given Name Rule

The Date Rule

Surnames:

Surname Rule:

All variations of 'MATHIA' (except 'MATTHIA') are entered as 'MATHIA' in our genealogical data files.

Rational:

1. Extensive MATHIA research has shown that spelling variations for the same person are common from the 1600s through the 1800s when writing was phonetic and spelling was not considered important. Names spellings vary from birth to marriage, to having children, even from child to child. For some reason MATHYIA was a fashionable variation for about 35 years in the first half of the 1800s. Somewhere in the 1840's most started spelling the name MATHIA regardless of how it was spelled for them previously.
2. The Polish suffixes of 'owna' and 'ówa' are added to the names of single and married women respectively. Mathyowna means Miss Mathia, and Mathyówa means Mrs. Mathia.
3. The exception to this spelling rule is the MATTHIA branch of the family which has retained this variant spelling to the present day. This branch of the family began when Joannem Adalbertum MATHIA, b. 17 Apr 1842, married Regina Maria THIEDE, b. 1 Feb 1847. The MATTHIA spelling began with their marriage and carried on to all of their children and their descendants.\
4. If other branches of the family are found to have retained variant spellings, then we can go back and correct the spelling in PAF for that line.
5. This uniform naming practice facilitates data searches and the merging of identical persons and families in our files.
6. Thus, MATHIA is used for names that may appear as MATIA, MATHIJA, MATHYIA, MATYJA, MATHYA, MATYOWNA, MATYÓWA, etc.
7. Persons with one or more variant spellings have those spellings noted in the 'AKA' field of the PAF and GEDCOM files.
8. Please refer comments or questions on this naming practice or a request to establish an enduring variant branch (see number 4, above) to:

Given Names:

Given Name Rule:

Most variations of a Given Name are entered under their most common modern spelling, e.g., 'Alberti' as 'Albert,' 'Mariannam' as 'Marianna,' etc.

Rational:

1. Extensive MATHIA research has shown that spelling variations for the same person are common from the 1600s through the 1800s when writing was phonetic and spelling was not considered important. Names spellings vary from birth to marriage, to having children.
2. This uniform naming practice facilitates data searches and the merging of identical persons and families in our files.
3. Johannes is a very common name. From about 1800 to 1850 the spelling varied between 'Johannes' and various forms of 'Joann.' Before 1800 it was usually spelled without the 'h' as 'Joanni,' 'Joannis,' 'Joannem,' etc.
4. Persons with one or more variant spellings have those spellings noted in the 'AKA' field of the PAF and GEDCOM files.
5. Please refer comments or questions on this naming practice to:
6. Given name conversion examples:

Dates:

Date Rule:

Unless otherwise specified:

• "Est" birth date means estimated from the birth of oldest child
  (fathers set at 26 years, mothers at 22).
• "Est" marriage date is one year before the birth of oldest child.
• "Abt" birth date
      (year only) means that the year calculated from an age on a marriage or death record;
  OR
      means that the date was calculated based on a known baptism/christening date.