Comments after the jump.
No, the keys on my keyboard do not stick.
The profiles do have dates and places (in Australia) but there are no obviously outrageous errors there so I didn't include them. This really isn't that kind of post anyway. I'm just curious to know if anyone has any theories about why someone would do this. Does 9 e's mean one thing and 12 e's mean something else? Why not choose a different letter? Especially since trying to count the number of e's will cause some serious eye strain. Some of you will now try it. Don't say I didn't warn you.
I'm baffled. Befuddled. Perplexed. There aren't enough synonyms to describe my bewilderment.
No one in their direct line has a repeated letter middle name so it is not a direct line marker. I've looked at the 'list of all people,' a few pages anyway, and there wasn't a page that didn't have at least a dozen repeated letter middle names. 99% of those profiles that have a repeated letter middle name have the letter e. I'm not checking every page because they have over 157,000 people in their tree. That's 1,571 pages in their 'list of all people.' That number in and of itself is the sign of a clickophile so there may be a head/desk post from this tree at a later date.
The entries for William's and Horace's middle names seem to be some sort of code. The only clear part is the last four numbers. Those are their birth years. I thought the number before the slash might be a postal code but it's not. There are many other profiles with a similar code for a middle name.
Also puzzling is the Ancestry.com program's inability to alphabetize the names of those with repeated letter middle names. For example:
If you know or have any guesses about the purpose of these middle names please comment!
Thanks to Sue Ellen for the link to this tree ;-)
If you have a tree or a profile to suggest please send a link to buwtree(at)gmail(dot)com.
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Louisa Jane rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Seymour
Father: Richard eeeeeeeee Seymour
Mother: Alice eeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Spouse & Children
Samuel Clement Cropper
✿ Daphne S G L eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Cropper
✿ William S C W 31996/1897 Cropper
✿ Horace S C S 13371/1901 Cropper
✿ Samuel Maurice eeeeeeeeeeeeee Cropper
✿ Marie A Leonie Cropper
Father: Richard eeeeeeeee Seymour
Mother: Alice eeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Spouse & Children
Samuel Clement Cropper
✿ Daphne S G L eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Cropper
✿ William S C W 31996/1897 Cropper
✿ Horace S C S 13371/1901 Cropper
✿ Samuel Maurice eeeeeeeeeeeeee Cropper
✿ Marie A Leonie Cropper
ⓑⓐⓡⓚⓘⓝⓖ ⓤⓟ ⓣⓗⓔ ⓦⓡⓞⓝⓖ ⓣⓡⓔⓔ
No, the keys on my keyboard do not stick.
The profiles do have dates and places (in Australia) but there are no obviously outrageous errors there so I didn't include them. This really isn't that kind of post anyway. I'm just curious to know if anyone has any theories about why someone would do this. Does 9 e's mean one thing and 12 e's mean something else? Why not choose a different letter? Especially since trying to count the number of e's will cause some serious eye strain. Some of you will now try it. Don't say I didn't warn you.
I'm baffled. Befuddled. Perplexed. There aren't enough synonyms to describe my bewilderment.
No one in their direct line has a repeated letter middle name so it is not a direct line marker. I've looked at the 'list of all people,' a few pages anyway, and there wasn't a page that didn't have at least a dozen repeated letter middle names. 99% of those profiles that have a repeated letter middle name have the letter e. I'm not checking every page because they have over 157,000 people in their tree. That's 1,571 pages in their 'list of all people.' That number in and of itself is the sign of a clickophile so there may be a head/desk post from this tree at a later date.
The entries for William's and Horace's middle names seem to be some sort of code. The only clear part is the last four numbers. Those are their birth years. I thought the number before the slash might be a postal code but it's not. There are many other profiles with a similar code for a middle name.
Also puzzling is the Ancestry.com program's inability to alphabetize the names of those with repeated letter middle names. For example:
, Ann , Ann
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann EEEEEEEEEEEE BEM
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann EEEEEEEEEEEE BEM
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
, Ann eeeeeeeeeee
If you know or have any guesses about the purpose of these middle names please comment!
Thanks to Sue Ellen for the link to this tree ;-)
If you have a tree or a profile to suggest please send a link to buwtree(at)gmail(dot)com.
PREVIOUS POST: Pretty, Pretty Princess
NEXT POST: What's Happening?
RELATED POST: What's the point?
I am in Australia I have seen the eeeeeeeeeeeee thing quite a bit on trees. I thought it might be an error on Ancestry.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the code in the middle names, the numbers before the birth year are the birth registration number, which is oart of Australian Birth/Marriage/Death records (i.e. someone born in 1906 will have the registration number 18632/1906). However it is still weird to put that in the middle name. Some people put it in the event (i.e. Born 1906 (Reg. #18632/1906) but this is the first time I have seen it in a middle name.
Thanks mstj! There's also the 3 letters before the registration number. I have a gg-grandmother with 2 middle names but 3?
DeleteI have seen people with 3 middle names. It happens more with upper-class British people (the queen's grandmother's name was Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes) and I have seen it in richer landowners in Australia as well (but it does seem to have died out today).
DeleteCould it be that someone put that into their tree to monitor those that copy their tree or link to it?
ReplyDeleteAre Australian vital records on Ancestry? Could it be that it happens during the merge process and people don't know how to correct it?
I forgot to include that there are no sources attached to those with the reg. # in their name. Not the one's I looked at anyway. So not a glitch. I guess it would show the tree owner which children they found records for (assuming they've found records but not attached them or cited them) without having to open up each profile. Still odd though :-P
DeleteI've seen these in the Australian trees and am perplexed. The 5 digit number before the birth year is the registration number as mstj mentioned. I've used it in the description field of an event but not as a middle name. I wonder if there are multiples of the name and they're using this as an identifier?
ReplyDeleteI'm also wondering if they ever get a decent match when searching from this tree.
I can't imagine how it would mess up searches >:o
Delete