THAT ORIGINAL HORRIBLE HANDWRITING and the DATABASE INDEX : USING FAMILYSEARCH FOR HUNGARIAN GENEALOGY RESEARCH - STRATEGY #7

If you use databases such as FAMILYSEARCH and you go to the original microfilm/books you know you've got to deal with the handwriting - the penmanship, the loop de loops, the exaggerations, the abbreviations, the ethnic variables of forming letters, while trying to come up with ways to bring up on the database Janos, as Johannes, Johan, Jo., John, Ivan, and so on.  I found Julianna, Julia, Julis, and Ju - or was that Iu? (And there are ethnic variations such as Illya!) You definitely should try ethnic variations of the name and nicknames. And then there are the surnames. 

So, you make a list. (Is all this database search tweaking fun?  NO!)

If the name does not come up with the proper T. Try spelling it with an I. with a Y.  (I had a T come up as a G!) 

Is that Y or a U?  Below is the GERMAN 1890 "perfect penmanship" called Kurrent, from Wikipedia. Hungarian children were going to school and learning to speak, read and write German.

The best thing to do is find yourself a patch of the same handwriting on the same document and look for words that you are guaranteed correct, such as the word for BAPTISM, or the way the MONTHS are written, or the often elaborate headings.  Look for how that particular person who hand wrote it forms their capital letters and so on.

But also check Hungarian surname lists which are available on web sites featuring surnames from current phone books, as an example. For instance, there has been confusion on databases and elsewhere between the handwritten names TAKACS, TAKATS, LUKACS, LUKATS, FEKETES, LAKATOS.  Knowing the MEANING of the surname may help somewhat.   (Weaver, Luke (There are surnames relating to the writers of the New Testament/Bible Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John), Black, Locksmith.)

Also, as an example, I see the same family surname TAKACS written TAKACS, TKATS, TAKACH, TKACH, TAKAS, though some families brought forward one of those spellings as their official spelling and another did not, sometimes it IS the same family.  Again, by building the family in the same town you will note that you may have to search for ALL the variations in order to find what you're looking for. The same family can have their name spelled one way in an area that is highly populated by Slovaks but when they live in Hungary surrounded by Hungarians, another. (The variation may or may not indicate an ethnicity.)

Good news.  You can scan the FAMILYSEARCH using * not only at the END of a name, but at the beginning of the name.  Up to three * at a time. So try *szke  or  *szk* or even this: T*k*c* Eliminating vowels helps since these can appear inconsistent.

Another thing for which the * search is useful, is the change of endings of surnames in Hungary and Slovakia.  The SZKI turned into SKI or SKY, the TH turned into just T, the LAI turned into LAY or LEY, and the DRAI, turned into DRA, DREY, a AI at the end of the name, turned into I, Y, even IY.

Also, notice that the letter s is written as f (and visa versa). And the letter j is often turned into a y.

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