Even more on standardization of place names

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Comment by Catherine Davis on December 17, 2009 at 10:40pm

Latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates already give us a set of standardized "place names" for every spot on the earth. This idea of defining spots on the earth by coordinates is relatively modern, a 17th or 18th century concept (the actual date escapes me), but once invented, it became a constant to which all other identifiers across time can be marked. As genealogists, we can use this methodology to help us map where our ancestors lived, and give us a better understanding of their whereabouts in terms of our own modern world. As one who majored in math in college, I totally value mathematical mappings and understand their importance, even to genealogists. But I also know that a reliance only on these mathematical markers detracts from the historical "story" of our ancestors which is so vital to our better understanding of our family. We learn something about our ancestors if If we discover they chose to live in a town in this country that bore the same name as their hometown in the old country; if that town chose to change its name for some reason--to recognize a local hero, make a political point, better describe the geography of the area, or just because everyone liked a new name better--that also tells us something. The analogy is the same in Europe--whether a district in Flanders was Dixmuide or Lys gives a really big clue as to who was running the country at the time.

If computer jockeys need standardized names for a place, let them use the already defined coordinates used in road maps, Google maps, GPS, etc. This gives them the info needed to "sort" data. But let's not sanitize the world and destroy history by inventing a lot of new names for places that have colorful histories that should be preserved.