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Gaps in Scottish names

Discussion in 'Key features of the LostCousins site' started by Jeremy Wilkes, Oct 3, 2020.

  1. Jeremy Wilkes

    Jeremy Wilkes LostCousins Star

    I am new to Scottish research, and am gradually learning. The L.D.S. transcription of the 1881 census includes gaps between "Mc" and the rest of the surname, an irritating feature that I usually forget until I get a "nil" search result from Scotlands People. On the other hand, when I click to check my entry against the Find My Past transcription, there is no gap. Should I type "Mc Neil" or "McNeil" and does it make a difference to matching?
     
  2. Bob Spiers

    Bob Spiers LostCousins Superstar

    Differing systems requiring different search approaches but you could try a wild card *(asterisk) I suppose - as in Mc*Neil or perhaps better M*Neil.
     
  3. peter

    peter Administrator Staff Member

    Always use the LDS transcription, which is only found at ScotlandsPeople (or on the CD ROM set - if you can still get it to work).
     
  4. Puddles

    Puddles LostCousins Member

    The surname of my relatives was recorded as the person recording the information either heard it or thought it should be recorded. Even in the 1980s my children's mother's maiden name is Mc on the certificate I was given and Mac on the copy sent to the Registrar General and appears as Mac on the index. Obviously I was unaware of this until well after the event.

    I'll now go back and look at my Mac / Mc and even Mack anestors and see if I need to put in spaces as per the LDS transcription.
     

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