How do I start a one-name study?

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You may find it useful to start by finding out how rare or how common your name really is, and how it is distributed through the country you live in today, and later, throughout the world.

You then need to start collecting information on a systematic basis. Many of the sources you will use are the same as those used by other genealogists. However you will be undertaking a more structured and detailed search. You will need significant commitment for this.

The Guild does not recommend that new members register a name unless they are already experienced in the principles of general family history research, and have already collected a reasonable body of data on the name as a whole.

The Guild recommendation for applicants wishing to register a surname is to have already collected data relating to the name as follows:

A survey to establish the size of the proposed study, the countries that will need to be considered and relevant surname variants. Additionally the British 1881 census (or equivalent) will give a good indication of the distribution of the name at the end of the 19th Century.
A significant collection of Civil Registration entries from indexes of births, marriages and deaths, such as those produced by the General Registry Office for England and Wales, including, where relevant, at least the entries in FreeBMD (a web site www.freebmd.org.uk that provides an increasing number of Civil Registration index entries for England and Wales).
A significant collection of entries in the International Genealogical Index (IGI). This worldwide index, mainly of baptisms and marriages, varies in its coverage from place to place. Where the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) has extracted data from parish registers, this is generally more reliable than that supplied by individuals. For Scotland, there is the similar but much more comprehensive Old Parochial Register Index (OPRI).
Indexes to the national census published to date. For studies with a British focus, the indexes to the 1881 and 1901 censuses, which are free, should have been collected, or the equivalent in the country concerned. Many other censuses are also available from commercial sites.

Much of this information is now available not only on microfilm or microfiche but also on CD or the Internet – details are available to members in the Guild Knowledge Store (or Wiki). Access to the Internet is available in almost all UK libraries if you do not have a home connection. Many other countries offer similar public access terminals.

The Membership Benefits page includes the benefits of having registered a surname with the Guild. The primary benefit, though, is being recognised as the worldwide expert on the registered surname.

How do I register my one-name study?