A -Z 2016 Family History

A For Abbreviations and Acronyms

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If the above image looks like something you view regularly, then there is a good chance that you are a genealogist! Family history records are filled with abbreviations and acronyms and until you becaome familiar with or have references for at hand, these often confusing terms can make researching your ancestors quite a challenge. Finding the abbr. (abbreviation) Ad.D or Ad.M or ds. on a record might leave you scratching your head, until you discover out that they are abbreviations for adopted daughter, adopted mother and deaths.  Family history research reveals a wealth of abbreviated language and one almost needs to be a linguist to decipher various records. Having a list of references at hand can be the key to translating the many abbreviations and acronyms used on the documents you read and understanding your ancestors' lives.

This blog post is the first of my contributions to the A -Z 2016 Blog Challenge .  For this week's challenge I am posting some links to references and resources regarding abbreviations and acronyms that I have found useful in my own research. Most of the following resources can be accessed online, through archives, libraries, organisations and blogs. I have also included links to some catalogues and books.

Along the genealogy journey you will encounter records containing commonly used abbreviations  for names, places, occupations, relationships between family memebers, medical conditions and legal terms, to name a few examples. A better understanding of the present accepted codes of abbreviations and acronyms as well as those unfamiliar and confusing ones in the past will enable you to make the most of the information you find on census, births, marriage, death, military, legal and other documents.

I hope these links will provide you with some understanding of the common and even not so common genealogical abbreviations and acronyms that can be road blocks on your genealogical journey. You are welcome to share any helpful references of your own that are not listed below.

AUSTRALIAN GENEALOGY SPECIFIC

http://www.gould.com.au/Abbreviations-for-Australian-Genealogists-p/vgs001.htm

http://www.aagra.asn.au/abbreviations.html

http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2554876

http://www.botanybayfhs.org.au/uploads/5/1/1/7/51172945/library_catalogue_2016.pdf

http://slwa.wa.gov.au/dead_reckoning/abbreviations



WORLDWIDE RESOURCES

http://familyhistoryresearch.com.au/resources/Acronyms.htm

https://www.geni.com/projects/Abbreviations-Acronyms-for-Genealogy-The-Accepted/3096

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rigenweb/abbrev.html

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~randyj2222/abbrev.html

https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Acronyms_and_Abbreviations

https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Abbreviations_Found_in_Genealogy_Records

http://www.cyndislist.com/dictionaries/abbreviations/

http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/query_abbreviations

http://www.ancestry.com.au/wiki/index.php?title=List_of_Abbreviations_and_Acronyms

https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=genealogy+abbreviations+book&tbm=shop&spd=1754328514738844382

http://www.genealogyintime.com/dictionary/city-directory-abbreviations.html

https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Latin_Genealogical_Word_List


http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/articles/abbreviations.shtml

http://blog.genealogybank.com/a-genealogists-guide-to-old-latin-terms-abbreviations.html

https://www.genealogysa.org.au/genealogy-sa/website-01/abbreviations-explained-02.html

http://statelibrarync.org/news/2011/10/genealogical-abbreviations-and-acronyms/

http://allcensusrecords.com/canada/terms.shtml



BLOGS

http://www.familytree.com/blog/abbreviations-of-occupations/

http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/what-to-do-about-archaic-abbreviations.html

http://www.raogk.org/encyclopedia/abbreviations/

http://www.genealogyblog.com/?p=15088

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/technique/genealogy-glossary/

https://www.lineages.com/genealogy-glossary/genealogy-glossary-of-terms-and-abbreviations/

http://www.familytree.com/blog/abbreviations-for-given-names/

http://genealogy-quest.com/glossary-terms/

http://www.theancestorhunt.com/blog/historical-newspaper-research-lesson-9-use-abbreviations#.VwGcGPl97IU

http://www.mydanishroots.com/tools-and-resources/genealogical-symbols-and-common-abbreviations.html

http://blog.kittycooper.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Reading-the-Churchbooks.pdf

http://youngandsavvygenealogists.blogspot.com.au/

http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/01/names.html

http://www.many-roads.com/2015/02/13/old-german-terms-occupations-etc/