Name Transforms

The transforms in this category manipulate name values.

The transforms share a name parser that splits the names into parts using punctuation characters and short lists of common values in each part category. For example, when "Mr." or "Mrs." appears at the start of a full name, the name parser considers them name prefixes.

These transforms are designed to work with names in "given name first" format ("John Smith"), as opposed to "surname first" format ("Smith, John"). If a collection has names in "surname first" sequence, you can use the nameToGivenFirst transform to convert the name to "given first" format, then use one of the transforms above to get the part of interest. For example, [Name:nameToGivenFirst:nameGiven].

The transforms expect suffixes to follow the first comma in the name text, for example "John Smith, Jr.". See the description of each transform for other details and/or limitations.

The name part transforms return a standardized version of each part. You may access the non-standardized value via a version of the name part transform that ends with the suffix "Raw". So, namePrefix returns the standardized prefix of the name, namePrefixRaw returns the non-standardized prefix of the name.

Example

Given the name "Prof Abraham Van Helsing, MD":

ORA's name parser will not produce perfect results in all cases. Names are ambiguous and parsing them based on rules cannot account for all the ambiguities. If you need a name parsed into parts, the name part transforms will help and will return the proper results in a majority of instances. However, it is inevitable that the results will not be correct in some instances. Review the results before accepting them into your genealogy database.

You may edit the name parser's lists of values using the [Name Prefixes...], [Name PreSurnames...], and [Name Suffixes...] buttons on the OraSettings page.

namePrefix
namePrefixRaw

The namePrefix transform returns the prefix of a name. The prefix is the honorific or title that appears before the given name, if any.

Prefix values include honorifics like "Mr." and "Mrs." and professional titles like "Dr.". ORA will only recognize prefixes that occur in the Name Prefixes list. The default entries in that list include mostly abbreviated words, for example, "Dr." is included but "Doctor" is not. You can view and edit the list via the [Name Prefixes...] button on the OraSettings page.

If a value in the name prefixes list includes any characters inside brackets [ and ], that character is optional and will only be included if Optional Name Part Characters is checked. The optional characters are usually not desired by users from the UK where the usual abbreviation of Mister is "Mr" (no ending period) and not "Mr.". The version with a period is the convention in the USA and some other locations.

The namePrefix transform may alter the case or punctuation of a prefix value. For example, the default entry in the name prefixes list changes "mr" to "Mr.". The namePrefixRaw transform returns the input value unchanged.

Examples

If a field named Name has the value "Mr John Smith, Jr.", the result of [Name:namePrefix] is "Mr." with a period, though the period is subject to the Optional Name Part Characters setting.

If a field named Name has the value "Mr John Smith, Jr.", the result of [Name:namePrefixRaw] is "Mr" without a period.

nameGiven
nameGivenRaw

The nameGiven transform returns the givenname part of a name. The given name begins after the name prefix, if any, and ends before the surname.

The nameGivenRaw transform returns the same value as the nameGiven transform. It is provided for consistency with the other name part transforms.

Examples

If a field named Name has the value "Mr. John Smith, Jr.", the result of [Name:nameGiven] is "John".

If a field named Name has the value "Mr. John Smith, Jr.", the result of [Name:nameGivenRaw] is "John".

nameSurname
nameSurnameRaw

The nameSurname transform returns the surname part of a name. The surname is usually the last word in the full name unless the name includes a comma. When there is a comma, the surname is the last word before the comma. (Text after the comma is the name suffix.)

The surname value may include other words that occur before the surname if those words are in the Name PreSurnames list. You can view and edit the list via the [Name PreSurnames...] button on the OraSettings page.

The nameSurname transform may alter the case of a presurname value. For example, the default values in the presurnames list change "Van" to "van". The nameSurnameRaw transform returns the input value unchanged.

The default presurnames list includes both "Mac" and "Mc". Those values are only detected as presurnames when they are separated from the following word by a space. So, for example, nameSurname will transform "mac Neil" into "Mac Neil", but it will not change "macNeil" into "MacNeil".

Examples

If a field named Name has the value "Mr John Smith, Jr.", the result of [Name:nameSurname] is "Smith".

If a field named Name has the value "Abraham Van Helsing", the result of [Name:nameSurname] is "van Helsing".

If a field named Name has the value "Abraham Van Helsing", the result of [Name:nameSurnameRaw] is "Van Helsing".

nameSuffix
nameSuffixRaw

The nameSuffix transform returns the suffix of a name. The suffix is any value following the first comma in the full name value. ORA will also detect suffixes at the end of the name if the values are on the list of common suffixes. Those rules will work for many names, especially common English names, but it will not work well for royal names and names from non-English cultures.

Suffix values include "Jr." and "Sr." and professional suffixes like "M.D.". ORA will treat any word after a comma in the name as part of the suffix. If a value in the suffix also occurs in the Name Suffixes list, ORA will replace the value in the name with the value from the list. The default entries in the list include mostly abbreviated words, for example, "Jr." and "Jnr." are included but "Junior" is not. You can view and edit the list via the [Name Suffixes...] button on the OraSettings page.

If a value in the name suffixes list includes any characters inside brackets [ and ], those characters are optional and will only be included if Optional Name Part Characters is checked. The optional characters are usually not desired by users from the UK where the usual abbreviation of Junior is "Jr" (no ending period) and not "Jr." (with ending period). The version with an ending period is the convention in the USA and some other locations.

The nameSuffix transform may alter the case or punctuation of a suffix value. For example, the default entry in the name prefixes list changes "jr" to "Jr.". The nameSuffixRaw transform returns the input value unchanged.

Examples

If a field named Name has the value "Mr. John Smith, Jr", the result of [Name:nameSuffix] is "Jr." with a period, though the period is subject to the Optional Name Part Characters setting.

If a field named Name has the value "Mr. John Smith, Jr", the result of [Name:nameSuffixRaw] is "Jr" without a period.

nameToGivenFirst

For names in "surname first" format, transforms the name into a "given name first" format. An example of a "surname first" name value is "Smith, John".

This transform expects the given name to follow the first comma in the name value and will not produce the desired result if no comma is present or if a comma is part of the surname, etc.

Examples

If a field named Name has the value "Smith, John", the result of [Name:nameToGivenFirst] is "John Smith".

If a "surname first" name includes a suffix after the given name, such as "Smith, John, Jr.", the suffix will be placed last in the output of nameToGivenFirst. If a field named Name has the value "Smith, John, Jr.", the result of [Name:nameToGivenFirst] is "John Smith, Jr.".

You may chain nameToGivenFirst with the Name Part Transforms to access parts of the name. If a field named Name has the value "Smith, John", the result of [Name:nameToGivenFirst:nameGiven] is "John".