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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: peterfelgate on Wednesday 15 September 10 23:46 BST (UK)

Title: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: peterfelgate on Wednesday 15 September 10 23:46 BST (UK)
Why do I keep finding surnames that are common words and which cause havoc when searching genealogy sites as they so often are used in the text of messages?  So far I have Day and Branch, and Moth keeps finding "mother"!

Anyone else have similar examples?
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: JayG on Wednesday 15 September 10 23:51 BST (UK)
Know exactly what you mean.

I'm looks for Falls, Parrott, Sparrow, Sivers to name a few!

Jay
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: jericho on Thursday 16 September 10 00:12 BST (UK)
I have a similar problem with the surnames Street and Shorter.   :)
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: aghadowey on Thursday 16 September 10 00:16 BST (UK)
I have Wood, Hunter, Workman, Feld, Smyth, Clyde, Gardner, Dexter, Pidgeon, Arthur, Kane, etc. all of which bring up loads in any search engine so search using quotes for full name or surname and place, etc.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Paul Caswell on Thursday 16 September 10 00:18 BST (UK)
My worst are Drury ... I cant get rid of references to Drury Lane!

Caswell ... oddly, Caswell County is very difficult to exclude.

Cousins ... almost impossible.

Paul
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: jrt on Thursday 16 September 10 00:23 BST (UK)
 i know exactly what you mean

 black and then theres the wilsons!!!!!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: gazania on Thursday 16 September 10 01:02 BST (UK)
I can add Lane.  The surname Alderman is not all that common but just as hopeless for a Google search unless I can add a qualifier. Gazania
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: nickgc on Thursday 16 September 10 02:16 BST (UK)
As stated earlier, use quotes if you know a first name: "Joseph Drury" shouldn't result in hits for Drury Lane.  Also, I have found combining the word genealogy or family with confusing names helps to limit the number of false hits.  You can either do this with or without quotes:  Clyde family scotland  Or "clyde family" scotland; "Street genealogy".

Look at the Google advanced search to see what you can do.  You can do Boolean searching (AND OR NOT) with AND being default.  So if you know first names of some relatives you can do a search like, "Elias Street" OR "Joseph Street" OR "Matilda Street".   You can also search drury aberdeen NOT "drury lane".

Hope this helps.

Nick
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: dbath on Thursday 16 September 10 04:41 BST (UK)
If it makes you feel better, I also have Days, but the tree includes Bath (which can lead wrong directions), Church (thankfully leading the other direction), as well as directions (North, West), food (Rice, Trout), and countries (England, French, German, Irish), but my worst are those names that are common first names:  Bryan, Boyd, Dennis, George, Howard, Jack, James, John, Joseph, Kelly, Lee, Lewis, Matthew, Ray, Stanley, Stewart, Todd, and Wade (which show every person with these first names).  Even when you go to a site that only searches names, it is almost enough to cause despair.  There should be a law against it!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: AnneMc on Thursday 16 September 10 05:18 BST (UK)
I have the same problem with the surname " Train" I come up with lots of Train schedules!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers
Anne
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: DudleyWinchurch on Thursday 16 September 10 06:39 BST (UK)
I have Risk and Quirk.  Fine so long as you can put them in a site with a "family name" field that allows you to be specific. Pity that I'm searching for both in Ireland.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: stonechat on Thursday 16 September 10 06:40 BST (UK)
The name Cock/Cocks- I need say no more
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: HeatherLynne on Thursday 16 September 10 08:08 BST (UK)
My worst is Roots, just about every family historian is searching for their roots! 

Oddly enough though Rassell is also a problem - despite the name being quite rare so many searches give lots of Russell results, especially if the records have been digitised as often a letter 'u' is read as 'a' by computer programs.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: angelfish58 on Thursday 16 September 10 08:32 BST (UK)
Ferry, no matter what I try search-wise it always seems to come back to aquatic transport.
and
Stockton, you would be amazed at how many towns are named this,( I also have Sunderland on the same line)
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Marmaduke 123 on Thursday 16 September 10 09:50 BST (UK)
I've got Berkshire! And they lived in Reading after they moved from Hampshire!

Imagine trying to search the Hampshire archives website for Berkshire, or searching for Berkshire Reading anywhere!

They seem to have found it a bit of a problem themselves, as a lot of the later lines changed the spelling to Barkshire.

Anne
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: angelfish58 on Thursday 16 September 10 10:02 BST (UK)
Anne, that must be the winner ;D what a nightmare.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: ambers on Thursday 16 September 10 10:12 BST (UK)
Page, was my biggest nightmare ::)

ambers
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: akanex2 on Thursday 16 September 10 10:16 BST (UK)
My grandmother's maiden name was Church ... a total nightmare for searching parish records in particular!

  A search for <"John Church" + marriage>, for example, brings up every reference to weddings held in churches dedicated to St John.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Chrisann on Thursday 16 September 10 11:58 BST (UK)
The name Cock/Cocks- I need say no more

I know what you mean my Cock family in Kent are a real pain - oh and I have Pain(e)s too, and they are one. Laws also  ;D Chrisann
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Jean McGurn on Thursday 16 September 10 15:28 BST (UK)
You can imagine what I get searching for Stables  ;D

Jean
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Pebbles Kernow on Thursday 16 September 10 15:37 BST (UK)
I've got Painter, Fisher and May causing problems as you would expect.

The one that suprised me was Brind - I never knew there is a Hamlet in East Riding of Yorkshire - I do now!

Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Darwin on Thursday 16 September 10 16:03 BST (UK)
I have Heard, which is hopeless in newspaper searches and searching for the Bird family has rarely been successful. ;)
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Paul Caswell on Thursday 16 September 10 18:36 BST (UK)
Look at the Google advanced search to see what you can do.  You can do Boolean searching (AND OR NOT) with AND being default.  So if you know first names of some relatives you can do a search like, "Elias Street" OR "Joseph Street" OR "Matilda Street".   You can also search drury aberdeen NOT "drury lane".

There are a few other tricks:

You can do Drury -Lane which is equivalent to your Drury NOT Lane.

Try Ferry ~Ancestry although Bird ~Ancestry doesn't seem to do quite so well.

Added: You can also refine with "+" which is supposed to mean "must contain" but I can't think of an example right now.

Paul
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Gaille on Thursday 16 September 10 20:59 BST (UK)
I have Childs Put it in any search and you get "Child of" "Stilborn Child of" etc.

Drives me nuts when I dont have a first name to add to it!

On the plus side tho .................... Its was getting a whole load of "Stillborn child of" results that led me to realise that sometimes search engines have a whole list of stillborn children listed under their parents name not their own..............and found me my mums long lost 'memory of a baby cousin' that she was convinced maybe she had imagined existed!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: justmej on Thursday 16 September 10 23:20 BST (UK)
I have any amount of James Pattersons... I'm sure I must be related to that author, as he keeps appearing when I do a search!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Suffolk Mawther on Thursday 16 September 10 23:55 BST (UK)
  ::)  Bridges - all I ever find are cousins with the names suspension, arched, box, girder, cantilever, London, Tower . . . . . . .

Pat ...
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Greensleeves on Friday 17 September 10 05:12 BST (UK)
My Pearl(e) family cause a lot of trouble with searches, because I get screeds of stuff about necklaces and other items of personal adornment,  and very little about people.  And when I do get people, it's those with Pearl as their first names, rather than their surnames.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Deb D on Friday 17 September 10 07:02 BST (UK)
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!  "Dixon"!!!!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: omega 1 on Friday 17 September 10 07:50 BST (UK)

The surname " Christopher " from Sussex it driving me nuts.

I`ll say no more

Omega
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: joanna69 on Friday 17 September 10 10:10 BST (UK)
I have a few...

Court
Baker
Gale
Hacker

The Hacker one is amusing.  I don't think any of my ancestors were keen on breaking into the Pentagon's mainframe!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: peterfelgate on Sunday 19 September 10 19:23 BST (UK)
I wasn't really meaning general searches of the internet where I know you can do filtering; I was thinking more specifically of sites such as rootschat itself where the filtering isn't so comprehensive - entering "hare" finds all occurences of offers the share info, moth brings up "mother", branch brings up "my branch of the family" etc!


Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: lindylou2_2002 on Monday 20 September 10 09:39 BST (UK)
Paine payne pain is a real pain to search for.

Also Hutson brings up loads of hudsons thinking its a misspell

Saunders keep getting sanders

Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: FosseWay on Monday 20 September 10 13:17 BST (UK)
Doesn't the Rootschat search facility allow the specification of whole words (e.g. by putting them in " ", as on Google)? This would avoid getting all the 'mother's if you're looking for 'Moth's.

I've recently tapped into the Martineau family (which produced several interesting civil engineers and Mayors of Birmingham and one VC recipient, and generally has a good internet presence) in my researches and find it's one of the worst transcribed surnames on Ancestry and FindMyPast censuses, passenger lists and other handwritten sources. The transcriber generally gets the Martin bit right, but the last three letters can be anything -- Martinson, Martinean, Martineas... So I invariably have to search with the variants turned on (FindMyPast) or for Martin* (Ancestry) which pulls up heaps of Martins that I know are irrelevant before I even start searching.

I know it's not a very common name but it's not that odd, and not as unusual or odd-sounding as Dawbarn, which features largely in my tree but with fewer transcription errors.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: margaret1 on Tuesday 21 September 10 06:09 BST (UK)
I wasn't really meaning general searches of the internet where I know you can do filtering; I was thinking more specifically of sites such as rootschat itself where the filtering isn't so comprehensive - entering "hare" finds all occurences of offers the share info, moth brings up "mother", branch brings up "my branch of the family" etc!




I have a similar experience when searching 'Tuck' on RootsChat - 125 pages and most of them are chatters who are stuck.  I'm not complaining though because I am probably one of them ;)

Margaret :D
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: larkspur on Tuesday 21 September 10 10:30 BST (UK)
Cant, always looks for can't and Corns.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Siamese Girl on Tuesday 21 September 10 12:34 BST (UK)
I've got the same problem as Gaille with Child.

Bonus is almost equally as bad!

Carole
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Velveteen on Friday 01 October 10 06:45 BST (UK)
Well, I'm mainly researching 'Choppin'...in general internet searches I get: Choppin' trees, Choppin' Cotton, Choppin' 'em up, Choppin' Broccolli(which apparently was a skit on the US tv show SNL in the '80's thats' gone viral)...etc. I'm also researching within Demerara, Guyana...I get pages upon pages of nothing but Demerara sugar and rum!

Within message boards, as above, it picks up every reference to chopping something. Argh.  ???
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: 7igerby7he7ail on Friday 01 October 10 10:11 BST (UK)
I can 'Google' all of the names in my tree and have sometimes found links,
One name, GUY, and at best I get references to Guy's Hospita,l at worst Gay dating sites !
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: billramp on Friday 01 October 10 11:39 BST (UK)
I have a few in mine...

Miles.....keeps bringing up distances
Down
Page
Chandler.....both occupation and shop
Warman......some interesting ones to do with war
and of course Rampling....I have to exclude Charlotte the actress and Danny the DJ!!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: DudleyWinchurch on Friday 01 October 10 11:41 BST (UK)
 .. not in my direct line but in trying to trace a cousin of my father whose mother remarried, I ended up searching for a Backlog.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Old Bristolian on Friday 01 October 10 11:47 BST (UK)
STREET is the most difficult I have to cope with, although when I try searching WASE Google insists I mean Waste! I also have GAY which leads to many sites I'm not really into

Steve
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Matt R on Friday 01 October 10 11:49 BST (UK)
I have found ancestors before named John Peel and John Terry.

Didn't I have fun googling those!!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Old Bristolian on Friday 01 October 10 12:00 BST (UK)
Yes - I've an Elizabeth Taylor & a Mary Pickford in my lines - and I forgot to mention the fun I have Googling my FOOK family


Steve
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: behindthefrogs on Friday 01 October 10 15:05 BST (UK)
My problem is my "Child" family, even when qualified by a christian name.  Not only impossible to search for, but also impossible on sites like GR where people insist on putting "child" in the surname on their trees.

David
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Siamese Girl on Friday 01 October 10 16:58 BST (UK)
My problem is my "Child" family, even when qualified by a christian name.  Not only impossible to search for, but also impossible on sites like GR where people insist on putting "child" in the surname on their trees.

David

I'm sure my Child family  are out there somewhere, but I may never find them! Talk about needle in a haystack.

Carole
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: stonechat on Friday 01 October 10 18:30 BST (UK)
STREET is the most difficult I have to cope with, although when I try searching WASE Google insists I mean Waste! I also have GAY which leads to many sites I'm not really into

Steve

Try Googling for "WASE" may get around that
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: bearkat on Saturday 02 October 10 22:35 BST (UK)
I've got a few names that cause problems when searching

TOPE -   BTopenworld email addresses
BORER -  lots of laborers
VAUS -  addresses in VA.US (Virginia, USA)
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: lainie3961 on Saturday 02 October 10 22:53 BST (UK)
Try googling Wood - impossible to get a sensible result other than furniture, golf clubs, floors, anything else you can think of that is made of wood and wooded areas!!!!!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Pebbles Kernow on Sunday 03 October 10 16:31 BST (UK)
Arrrgggg

Earlier this week I added a new name to the tree - Moses Xerxes - try googling that !!!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: carolynb on Saturday 16 October 10 22:52 BST (UK)
I have
HILL  with a William and a Fanny

LEATHER  lots of leather products

FLOOD  lots of water!!!!

CURRIE glad it is not Curry or that may also cause problems

Carolyn

Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: behindthefrogs on Saturday 16 October 10 23:28 BST (UK)
Arrrgggg

Earlier this week I added a new name to the tree - Moses Xerxes - try googling that !!!


There doesn't sem to be any problem if you put it in quotation marks.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: lainie3961 on Sunday 17 October 10 09:18 BST (UK)
I have just tried the quotation marks - and it is a little better, but still alot of hardwood flooring and campsites!!! lol
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: behindthefrogs on Sunday 17 October 10 10:38 BST (UK)
I don't get any of campsites or hardwood flooring.  Are you putting both words within one set of quotes?
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: lainie3961 on Sunday 17 October 10 14:22 BST (UK)
doh! No - I wasnt - much better results when you put the full name in within the quotes!!!  :-[  lol

Thank you for the tip - this will help my searching no end!!!  ;D
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Rena on Sunday 17 October 10 14:47 BST (UK)
I have a struggle researching my "Shearing" line, even the London Gazette has thousands of references to sheep shearing regulations which makes it nigh impossible to find WWI events  :-\

When Google added its ultimate all singing all dancing technic gizmo I lost all hope of tracing my MILLAR branch as it insists on only giving me results for MILLER and as that was a very common occupation in days of yore there are a zillion pages of 'em.  :'(
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: jacquelineve on Sunday 17 October 10 15:48 BST (UK)

 You can imagine the results when I google Incher.

Jackie
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: lainie3961 on Sunday 17 October 10 18:02 BST (UK)
try behindthefrogs suggestion - it really cuts down on the rubbish!!!

type in the first and last name of  your ancestor - in quotation marks

this is not to say that you still dont have none relevant search results - but the search is focussed upon who you are looking for!!!  :D
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Just Kia on Sunday 17 October 10 21:10 BST (UK)
I have a struggle researching my "Shearing" line, even the London Gazette has thousands of references to sheep shearing regulations which makes it nigh impossible to find WWI events :-\
Try searching Shearing -sheep

Quote
When Google added its ultimate all singing all dancing technic gizmo I lost all hope of tracing my MILLAR branch as it insists on only giving me results for MILLER and as that was a very common occupation in days of yore there are a zillion pages of 'em. :'(
try searching Millar -Miller
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: lainie3961 on Sunday 17 October 10 21:16 BST (UK)
no - I mean searching for 'James' Shearing and 'John' Millar.

So ... you google for "James Shearing"

See what this comes up with!!!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Just Kia on Sunday 17 October 10 21:24 BST (UK)
No, try searching for Shearing -Sheep the - means exclude results with this word.
If you search "James Shearing" you will not get results for "Shearing, James", "James N Shearing" or his brother John.
To enhance the search further try Shearing +James -sheep. Anytime you notice a common word cropping up that you don't want simply add a -word or -"unwanted phrase" to your search query. Note there is no space between the - and the word or phrase you want to eliminate.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Alexander. on Sunday 17 October 10 23:12 BST (UK)
I have most trouble with the name NAIL. Google just thinks I want a manicure.

Even googling my ancestor "Benedict Nail" - in quotes - only brings up salons.

Alexander
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Rena on Sunday 17 October 10 23:15 BST (UK)
hmm; Ive not used  -word  so it will be interesting to see the results.  

Out of curiosity, earlier tonight I used the advanced search looking for the place named "Balloan" .... which my ancestors resided in.   Google still managed to insert a few "ballon" words into the results lol
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: ajf25 on Monday 18 October 10 00:02 BST (UK)
I've got Quarrell and Fury.  >:(

You can imagine how many newspaper articles come up with those words included.

Cheers, Alison  :D
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: tedscout on Monday 18 October 10 00:10 BST (UK)
Ive been looking for a ship called "Bourneup"

I keep getting Melbourne up.

Even with the ""

 >:( Ted
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: ajf25 on Monday 18 October 10 01:04 BST (UK)
Ive been looking for a ship called "Bourneup"

I keep getting Melbourne up.

Even with the ""

 >:( Ted

Hi Ted,
I just googled ship bourneup and a couple of references came up. Spelling changed to Bourneuf though. Don't know if it's the ship you're looking for; out of Liverpool to Australia.
Below those are refs for emigrant ship Bourneup.

Good luck,
Regards, Alison  :)
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: tedscout on Monday 18 October 10 01:32 BST (UK)
Thanks Alison I found that one too.

But I found the info I wanted through someone on Rootschat so all is good.

It was just another G :o gle moment

 ;D Ted
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: ajf25 on Thursday 21 October 10 07:41 BST (UK)
I have a Royal Albert Quarrell  :o

I've tried the trick mentioned earlier in this thread about putting a minus sign and then hall and it does take away all those Royal Albert Hall references. Still plenty of others to eliminate though.

So thanks JustKia

Cheers, Alison  :)
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: treehunter on Thursday 21 October 10 21:22 BST (UK)
I have HILLS thats not easy to google

Also Parker, Gurr, Hutt, Rieu and many more

Hazel
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: DudleyWinchurch on Saturday 23 October 10 00:04 BST (UK)
Thomas O'Malley

.. sounds like a perfectly normal, even if rather common, name but if I try to search on it, I get an awful lot of results that seem to think I just want the lyrics to a song!  ::)
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Erato on Saturday 23 October 10 00:19 BST (UK)
Ware.

hardware, earthenware, silverware, Tupperware .....
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: little meg on Saturday 23 October 10 01:09 BST (UK)
I have Wild, Belt, Storey  which all give different meanings.   :(
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: behindthefrogs on Saturday 23 October 10 11:05 BST (UK)
Ware.

hardware, earthenware, silverware, Tupperware .....

Search for " ware " with a space within the quotes before and after the word.  This removes most but not all instances of warehouse as well.

David
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Vixen60 on Monday 01 November 10 10:16 GMT (UK)
I have March and Reading(s) as well as Marsh
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Sharon01 on Monday 01 November 10 10:35 GMT (UK)
Mine bring up anything to do with the villages/places that have the name.

Salkeld - little Salkeld
Hartwell - mainly Hartwell House
Aldridge - village/town in Walsall

Sharon
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: behindthefrogs on Monday 01 November 10 12:52 GMT (UK)
Mine bring up anything to do with the villages/places that have the name.

Salkeld - little Salkeld
Hartwell - mainly Hartwell House
Aldridge - village/town in Walsall

Sharon

On google

You can remove the firrst two of those by adding -"Hartwell House" and -"Little Salkeld"

Similarly tedscout can add -Melbourne to his search.  It comes down to telling the search what you don't want.  The google searches will often search rootschat for you.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: ambers on Tuesday 02 November 10 13:10 GMT (UK)
The name Summers in Pembrokeshire brings up hoilday parks.

Albert Finney, but mine was not the actor :-X.

Ambers
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: MagicMirror on Wednesday 03 November 10 23:44 GMT (UK)
Marr

Almost every family history website uses it as an abbreviation for 'marriage'. ???
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: carolynb on Friday 08 February 13 01:25 GMT (UK)
I have Hill (including a William Hill but not a bookie)
          Leather ( lots of leather goods)         
          Flood (things to do with water)
          Currie (not curry)
 When I was a child I thought it was so funny that one Grandmother had been a Pursell (pronounced Persil like the soap powder) and the other had been a Hynnes (like Heinz as in Heinz beans) but they do not give me any problems
Carolyn
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: barryd on Friday 08 February 13 02:52 GMT (UK)
I have Routledge (sometimes Americanized to Rutledge). A search brings up thousands of references to the Book Publishing Company by that name.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: a chesters on Friday 08 February 13 05:34 GMT (UK)
It gets to be good fun when one of the ancestors has the same name as a famous person of about the same era.

One of mine was Thomas Bewick. Put that in and I get the famous woodcut maker of some 50 years before. Trying to sort out mine is tedious.

AC
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: nickgc on Friday 08 February 13 07:29 GMT (UK)
I published quite a few articles and reports in the 1980s and 1990s.  There is a once popular singer musician with my exact name, so it is almost impossible for me to drill down to an internet reference to provide people with links to my stuff when they are interested.  It is one of the reasons I don't have an internet "social sites" presence:  I'm afraid I'd get lost in the noise.  Ah well, I keep telling myself I prefer anonymity...
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: andrewalston on Friday 08 February 13 20:40 GMT (UK)
I regularly search for "Alstead", since virtually everyone in the UK with that surname is a cousin of some sort.

Unfortunately, there's a place in New Hampshire with the name. On Google, I can add tokens to restrict the results:
   alstead -hampshire -nh -estate

When I tried the same type of search on Bing, it insisted on returning hits for Real Estate agents dealing with property in Alstead Hew Hampshire.

Twenty three pages of them. :'(

The first interesting result was on page 24.

I have not used Bing for any sort of internet search since.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: andrewalston on Friday 08 February 13 21:13 GMT (UK)
It is always worth getting to know the "language" used when searching on websites you use regularly. Some can get quite complex. For instance a search I use on eBay (note the minus sign is again used to exclude things):
  (daimler, lanchester, rotax) (192???, 193???, vintage, veteran) -kart -wifi -"7149973" -401444
I want to see items mentioning any of the 3 brands in the first set of parentheses, but only when they also mention one of the date periods mentioned in the 2nd set. Of these, I want to exclude the ads placed by those who believe that a 1990s go-kart is "vintage", and the hundred of ads placed by companies with those phone numbers who insist on mentioning every brand of vehicle ever made. The exclusions mean I see 665 results now rather than 3914 in the vehicle parts section.

Access to Archives (A2A) used to have a very good search language, allowing you to find articles where two words occurred in proximity.
<surname> near10 bastard was one of my common searches. You can tell what sort of lives my ancestors lived!
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: sarahsean on Saturday 09 February 13 21:20 GMT (UK)
My family name is Hall gives lots of problems in searching!

Sarah

Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Paul Caswell on Saturday 09 February 13 21:35 GMT (UK)
I'd bet Butt causes you some problems too Sarah.  ;D
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: sarahsean on Monday 11 February 13 09:37 GMT (UK)
Well Butt is a bit of an unfortunate name not that I would have ever said that to my grandmother! However it was actually quite a useful name as my great uncle changed his name when he moved to the USA and it made it easier to find the family.

Sarah
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: pinefamily on Tuesday 12 February 13 11:14 GMT (UK)
You should try typing Pine into searches (especially on the directories site!). The search finds addresses, all kinds of public houses, and of course anything made of pine. Occasionally it tosses up the odd Pine person, just to keep me interested.
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Michelle79 on Tuesday 12 February 13 20:39 GMT (UK)
I always have issues with the surname Key especially when I haven't got a first name to go with it.  If I google search for 'Key family staffordshire' i get lots of hits for Key family history collections within staffordshire which would be great if it was a collection about the Key family but it isnt  :(

The do have 1 surname that is funny to search and thats 'Bullock' if I search the British newspaper Archives for the surname I get lots of results for articles regarding bulls for sale lol  ;)

Michelle
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: Marmalady on Sunday 17 February 13 14:42 GMT (UK)
try searching for "Helps" !!

i also have Bulloch/Bullocks,
Title: Re: Names which cause problems with searches....
Post by: catweatherwax on Saturday 23 February 13 21:32 GMT (UK)
I have an ancestor called Eliab Box. Various sites insist I mean Elizabeth when I do searches. I've even seen a printed transcription of his baptism record where they've first written Elizabeth but then it was thankfully crossed out!