The purpose of this set of extensions to GEDCOM 7.0 is to port GEDCOM-X’s more versatile name structures in GEDCOM 7.
This document is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. For details, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.
Most of this document is the original work of Luther Tychonievich.
However, the descriptions of enumerated values in the http://gedcomx.org/ namespace are copied verbatim from GEDCOM-X, copyright Intellectual Reserve, Inc., as is permitted by the cc-by-sa license used by both that project and this one.
This document uses prefix notation: any URI beginning with one of the following short prefixes followed by a colon is shorthand for a URI beginning with the corresponding URI prefix
| Short Prefix | URI Prefix |
|---|---|
g7 |
https://gedcom.io/terms/v7/ |
gx |
http://gedcomx.org/ |
ext |
https://tychonievich.github.io/gx-g7-names# |
This extension consists of a three new extension structure types and a large number of new enumeration values, most taken directly from GEDCOM-X.
Extend the PERSONAL_NAME_PIECES production in the GEDCOM 7 specification with the following new term:
n _N_PART <Text> {0:M} ext:name-part
+1 _NP_TYPE <Enum> {0:1} ext:name-part-type
+1 _NP_QUAL <Enum> {0:M} ext:name-part-qualifier
It is worth noting that, as with all documented GEDCOM 7 extensions, the tag names above are only recommendations: it is the URIs, not the tag names, that define the meaning of these structures. See Recommended Tags for more.
URI: https://tychonievich.github.io/gx-g7-names#name-part
A part of a name.
This structure is intended to be the GEDCOM 7 parallel of the GEDOCM-X element http://gedcomx.org/v1/NamePart.
The preferred order of ext:name-part structures is the preferred display order of the name parts.
URI: https://tychonievich.github.io/gx-g7-names#name-part-type
The type of a name part.
Only four name part types are defined, and not all name parts need have a type.
Additional, more specific name part descriptors can be found in the ext:name-part-qualifiers.
This structure is intended to be the GEDCOM 7 parallel of the type property of the GEDOCM-X element http://gedcomx.org/v1/NamePart.
The payload of this structure should be an enumerated value documented by GEDCOM-X for that property, namely
| URI | description |
|---|---|
http://gedcomx.org/Prefix |
A name prefix. |
http://gedcomx.org/Suffix |
A name suffix. |
http://gedcomx.org/Given |
A given name. |
http://gedcomx.org/Surname |
A surname. |
The ext:name-part-type structure is optional, and should only be included if exactly one of the above enumerated values correctly describes the name part.
URI: https://tychonievich.github.io/gx-g7-names#name-part-qualifier
A type-like descriptor of a name part.
This structure is intended to be the GEDCOM 7 parallel of the qualifiers property of the GEDOCM-X element http://gedcomx.org/v1/NamePart.
The payload of this structure should be an enumerated value documented by GEDCOM-X for that property, namely
| URI | description |
|---|---|
http://gedcomx.org/Title |
A designation for honorifics (e.g. Dr., Rev., His Majesty, Haji), ranks (e.g. Colonel, General, Knight, Esquire), positions (e.g. Count, Chief, Father, King) or other titles (e.g., PhD, MD). |
http://gedcomx.org/Primary |
A designation for the name of most prominent in importance among the names of that type (e.g., the primary given name). |
http://gedcomx.org/Secondary |
A designation for a name that is not primary in its importance among the names of that type (e.g., a secondary given name). |
http://gedcomx.org/Middle |
A designation useful for cultures that designate a middle name that is distinct from a given name and a surname. |
http://gedcomx.org/Familiar |
A designation for one’s familiar name. |
http://gedcomx.org/Religious |
A designation for a name given for religious purposes. |
http://gedcomx.org/Family |
A name that associates a person with a group, such as a clan, tribe, or patriarchal hierarchy. |
http://gedcomx.org/Maiden |
A designation given by women to their original surname after they adopt a new surname upon marriage. |
http://gedcomx.org/Patronymic |
A name derived from a father or paternal ancestor. |
http://gedcomx.org/Matronymic |
A name derived from a mother or maternal ancestor. |
http://gedcomx.org/Geographic |
A name derived from associated geography. |
http://gedcomx.org/Occupational |
A name derived from one’s occupation. |
http://gedcomx.org/Characteristic |
A name derived from a characteristic. |
http://gedcomx.org/Postnom |
A name mandated by law for populations from Congo Free State / Belgian Congo / Congo / Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). |
http://gedcomx.org/Particle |
A grammatical designation for articles (a, the, dem, las, el, etc.), prepositions (of, from, aus, zu, op, etc.), initials, annotations (e.g. twin, wife of, infant, unknown), comparators (e.g. Junior, Senior, younger, little), ordinals (e.g. III, eighth), descendancy words (e.g. ben, ibn, bat, bin, bint, bar), and conjunctions (e.g. and, or, nee, ou, y, o, ne, &). |
http://gedcomx.org/RootName |
The “root” of a name part as distinguished from prefixes or suffixes. For example, the root of the Polish name “Wilkówna” is “Wilk”. |
https://tychonievich.github.io/gx-g7-names#hidden |
A name part that should not be displayed. |
Note that this extension adds one qualifier not present in GEDCOM-X:
URI: https://tychonievich.github.io/gx-g7-names#hidden
There may be cases where a part of a name should be represented in the data but not displayed when the name is formatted.
For example, there is a Polish surname that is spelled “Kowalski” for men and mixed-gender groups but “Kowalska” for women; a researcher may wish to record both forms, but add the ext:hidden qualifier to the one that does not match the gender of the individual.
To be fully interoperable with other parts of GEDCOM 7, applications should impose the following limitations on users.
For the purpose of these limitations, a set of name parts are said to be contiguous if, after removing any ext:hidden parts, they are adjacent in the list of name parts.
Some applications (and some governments; see, e.g. rufnames) require at most one primary given name.
This means that if there is more than one part with qualifier gx:Primary and type gx:Given, all such parts must be contiguous.
In most cases, a single gx:Primary gx:Given part is adequate, but there may be cases when additional details (such as particles, root names, etc) will be added about parts of the primary given name, necessitating breaking it up into several parts.
The g7:type-Name datatype requires at most one primary surname, as identified by slashes in the payload.
This means that
gx:Primary and type gx:Surname, all such parts must be contiguous.gx:Primary and type gx:Surname, then all parts with type gx:Surname must be contiguous.In some cases a single gx:Primary gx:Surname part is adequate, but there may be cases when additional details (such as particles, root names, etc) will be added about parts of the primary surname name, necessitating breaking it up into several parts.
Per the GEDOCM 7 specification, the tags used for documented extension structures may be changed to avoid tag collisions between independent extensions. However, the following tags are recommended:
0 HEAD
1 GEDC
2 VERS 7.0
1 SCHMA
2 TAG _N_PART https://tychonievich.github.io/gx-g7-names#name-part
2 TAG _NP_TYPE https://tychonievich.github.io/gx-g7-names#name-part-type
2 TAG _NP_QUAL https://tychonievich.github.io/gx-g7-names#name-part-qualifier
2 TAG _GX_PREFIX http://gedcomx.org/Prefix
2 TAG _GX_SUFFIX http://gedcomx.org/Suffix
2 TAG _GX_GIVEN http://gedcomx.org/Given
2 TAG _GX_SURNAME http://gedcomx.org/Surname
2 TAG _GX_TITLE http://gedcomx.org/Title
2 TAG _GX_PRIMARY http://gedcomx.org/Primary
2 TAG _GX_SECONDARY http://gedcomx.org/Secondary
2 TAG _GX_MIDDLE http://gedcomx.org/Middle
2 TAG _GX_FAMILIAR http://gedcomx.org/Familiar
2 TAG _GX_RELIGIOUS http://gedcomx.org/Religious
2 TAG _GX_FAMILY http://gedcomx.org/Family
2 TAG _GX_MAIDEN http://gedcomx.org/Maiden
2 TAG _GX_PATRONYMIC http://gedcomx.org/Patronymic
2 TAG _GX_MATRONYMIC http://gedcomx.org/Matronymic
2 TAG _GX_GEOGRAPHIC http://gedcomx.org/Geographic
2 TAG _GX_OCCUPATIONAL http://gedcomx.org/Occupational
2 TAG _GX_CHARACTERISTIC http://gedcomx.org/Characteristic
2 TAG _GX_POSTNOM http://gedcomx.org/Postnom
2 TAG _GX_PARTICLE http://gedcomx.org/Particle
2 TAG _GX_ROOTNAME http://gedcomx.org/RootName
2 TAG _NPQ_HIDDEN https://tychonievich.github.io/gx-g7-names#hidden
It is intended that ext:name-part be used in such a way that all other elements of a g7:INDI-NAME or g7:NAME-TRAN can be reconstructed unambiguously from the ext:name-parts alone.
To achieve this, every character in the name’s displayed form should be in a ext:name-part. This may mean there are ext:name-parts with no type or qualifier that store spacing, punctuation, etc.
To populate the other name data from name parts,
Create the g7:type-NAME payload by
ext:name-part payloads that do not have the ext:hidden qualifier./), which g7:type-NAME cannot represent.gx:Surname, do not add slashes.gx:Surname and qualifier gx:Primary, put a slash before the first such part and after the last such part.gx:Surname, put a slash before the first such part and after the last such part.Create other personal name parts as follows:
g7:GIVN for each part with type gx:Giveng7:SURN for each part with type gx:Surname, unless it also has qualifier gx:Particle and precedes all gx:Surnames that lack gx:Particle: in that case, use g7:SPFX insteadg7:NPFX for each part with type gx:Prefixg7:NSFX for each part with type gx:Suffixg7:NICK for each part with qualifier gx:Familiar that does not also have a typegx:Given and qualifier gx:Primary
2 _N_PART Dr.
3 _NP_QUAL _GX_TITLE
2 _N_PART
2 _N_PART Luther
3 _NP_TYPE _GX_GIVEN
3 _NP_QUAL _GX_PRIMARY
2 _N_PART
2 _N_PART A.
3 _NP_TYPE _GX_GIVEN
3 _NP_QUAL _GX_MIDDLE
2 _N_PART
2 _N_PART Tychonievich
3 _NP_TYPE _GX_SURNAME
3 _NP_QUAL _GX_FAMILY
1 NAME Dr. Luther A. /Tychonievich/
2 GIVN Luther
2 _RUFNAM Luther
2 GIVN A.
2 SURN Tychonievich
2 _N_PART Dr.
3 _NP_QUAL _GX_TITLE
2 _N_PART
2 _N_PART Luther
3 _NP_TYPE _GX_GIVEN
3 _NP_QUAL _GX_PRIMARY
2 _N_PART
2 _N_PART A.
3 _NP_TYPE _GX_GIVEN
3 _NP_QUAL _GX_MIDDLE
2 _N_PART
2 _N_PART Tychonievich
3 _NP_TYPE _GX_SURNAME
3 _NP_QUAL _GX_FAMILY
Much of the information presented in these extensions overlaps with information contained in the standard,
notably the g7:INDI-NAME and g7:NAME-TRAN structures and their standard substructures.
These extensions provide a strict superset of information contained in those structures.
As such, it is governed by the considerations in the Extension versus Standard section of the 7.0 specification.
Notably:
If the data in these extensions are edited, the standard structures must also be updated to match using the algorithms in the previous section.
If the g7:type-NAME payload differs from that which would be generated by the algorithms in the previous section, then the data in these extension structures is out of date and should be edited to match the g7:type-NAME payload or removed entirely.
If the data in these extensions match the g7:type-NAME payload but not the personal name parts, then the application should seek user input in how to resolve that disagreement. Because personal name parts and these extensions are both optional, it is not self-evident which is correct. In the absence of such user input, the standard personal name parts must by given precedence.