GENERAL:
I noticed that when searching for e.g. "O. Kelly" a name like "Owsen kelly", entered without a Capital letter is NOT listed! That is why names should be edited to start with a Capital.
NAMES:
An orphaned Mc or Mac has no meaning, so (for Findagrave) Mc or Mac should ALWAYS be entered with the name e.g. McDonald (without space) or MacDonald, regardless of how it seems on the stone.
MacDonald = Son of Donald.
Frances is the female form of Francis, but not always adhered to.
English custom was never to mention a lady's name: Mrs. James Jones. Often a family surname is used as 2nd name: James Smith Jones.
Dutch custom is to hyphenate a woman's maiden name to her surname: Volten-Langewis (Langewis=maiden name).
In Spanish speaking countries the surname of the mother is ALWAYS added to the name: Antonio Fernandez Velasquez. Velasquez = maiden name of the mother. But in Puerto Rico if e.g. Julia Santos Figueroa gets married to Juan Pérez, her name changes to Julia Santos de Pérez!
Very confusing, as different countries have opposite customs. One has to know the origin of a name to fill in the right name(s) in Findagrave.
German & Dutch maiden names are often indicated by "geb." = geboren, French "née", Spanish nac./nacido (all mean BORN). Of course these abbreviations should NOT be entered in the Maiden Name field.
English O'Neil = Irish Ó Neal, so what to enter so that people can find their relatives ? That is a problem.
Common Dutch names start with Van (van Delft), van der (van der Molen), van de (van de Zande) or de (de Bakker). THEY ARE PART OF THE SURNAME!
Same in German: Von, Von der, Von den, de. French: le, la, de, du, des.
After examining THOUSANDS of memorials, I must conclude that - at least for British entries - OFTEN the surname is NOT given if the name of the wife follows WITH their surname.
Example: "In loving memory of James William beloved husband of Mary Griffith Jones, who died .... 1923 aged 76". Then HIS full name was James William JONES.
(Maiden) names that END in a comma come at the END of a names list when searching! That is why I edit the memorial to remove the comma.
In many countries first names that include SAME name abbreviated or their nickname are NOT allowed. Naming your child e.g. "James Jas Jim Jimmy WILLIAMS" or "Margaret Margie Peggy Peg JONES" is NOT allowed, ONLY James WILLIAMS and Margaret JONES are officially accepted.
Findagrave rules: Regarding using the maiden name, regardless of heritage, a woman's maiden name should go in the Maiden Name field, not in the Last Name field UNLESS she is unmarried.
If a woman is married more than once, the married surnames should go in the Last Name field.
DATES:
For centuries the custom was: It was NOT DONE to mention someone's birthday! Only his/her (exact) age at death. WE in 21st century in Findagrave can fill in the birthdate as customs have changed.
RECOGNIZING DIGITS:
A 9 and a 6 have NO indentation on the right resp left.
A 3 and an 8 have indentations on the right (8 also on the left) in the middle.
A 3 and a 5 swing left at bottom, but NOT to the middle.
A 7 is leaning backward; a 1 is straight up.
A 5 has horizontal straight bar at top, but a 6 is curving upward.
If 1818 reads like 18 18 it probably is 1848 as the 4 takes up more space than a 1.
GRAVESTONE PHOTOGRAPHY:
I had with me: a brush, small shovel, bucket, decent size MIRROR (to project sunlight onto a stone at an ACUTE angle), sickle (!), saw, scissors, string and rope, camera, tripod, flashlight. I had to use ALL, even in an abandoned cemetery...
STATISTICS:
1 July 2021: I just reached 100,000 edits, in 1yr 6mo.
180/d for 540 days.... What a job!
29 Dec 2021: 122,000 edits in 2 years....
29 Dec 2022: 150,000 edits and still going strong....
1 Jun 2023: (new edit system) over 203,000 edits!
24 Jan 2024: 220,000 edits.
Duplicates reported: 12 Sep 2023: 7000; 7 Oct: 8000; 1 Nov: 9000, 1 Feb 2024: 10,000 !!
Another statistic: ~15% of people aged over 100 have wrong dates! Often caused by a sticky key: e.g. 1962 becomes 1996. Or 1977 intended, 1997 entered. Or 1933 is read as 1983. And born 1866 = 1886....
Good luck to all working for this wonderful site!

GENERAL:
I noticed that when searching for e.g. "O. Kelly" a name like "Owsen kelly", entered without a Capital letter is NOT listed! That is why names should be edited to start with a Capital.
NAMES:
An orphaned Mc or Mac has no meaning, so (for Findagrave) Mc or Mac should ALWAYS be entered with the name e.g. McDonald (without space) or MacDonald, regardless of how it seems on the stone.
MacDonald = Son of Donald.
Frances is the female form of Francis, but not always adhered to.
English custom was never to mention a lady's name: Mrs. James Jones. Often a family surname is used as 2nd name: James Smith Jones.
Dutch custom is to hyphenate a woman's maiden name to her surname: Volten-Langewis (Langewis=maiden name).
In Spanish speaking countries the surname of the mother is ALWAYS added to the name: Antonio Fernandez Velasquez. Velasquez = maiden name of the mother. But in Puerto Rico if e.g. Julia Santos Figueroa gets married to Juan Pérez, her name changes to Julia Santos de Pérez!
Very confusing, as different countries have opposite customs. One has to know the origin of a name to fill in the right name(s) in Findagrave.
German & Dutch maiden names are often indicated by "geb." = geboren, French "née", Spanish nac./nacido (all mean BORN). Of course these abbreviations should NOT be entered in the Maiden Name field.
English O'Neil = Irish Ó Neal, so what to enter so that people can find their relatives ? That is a problem.
Common Dutch names start with Van (van Delft), van der (van der Molen), van de (van de Zande) or de (de Bakker). THEY ARE PART OF THE SURNAME!
Same in German: Von, Von der, Von den, de. French: le, la, de, du, des.
After examining THOUSANDS of memorials, I must conclude that - at least for British entries - OFTEN the surname is NOT given if the name of the wife follows WITH their surname.
Example: "In loving memory of James William beloved husband of Mary Griffith Jones, who died .... 1923 aged 76". Then HIS full name was James William JONES.
(Maiden) names that END in a comma come at the END of a names list when searching! That is why I edit the memorial to remove the comma.
In many countries first names that include SAME name abbreviated or their nickname are NOT allowed. Naming your child e.g. "James Jas Jim Jimmy WILLIAMS" or "Margaret Margie Peggy Peg JONES" is NOT allowed, ONLY James WILLIAMS and Margaret JONES are officially accepted.
Findagrave rules: Regarding using the maiden name, regardless of heritage, a woman's maiden name should go in the Maiden Name field, not in the Last Name field UNLESS she is unmarried.
If a woman is married more than once, the married surnames should go in the Last Name field.
DATES:
For centuries the custom was: It was NOT DONE to mention someone's birthday! Only his/her (exact) age at death. WE in 21st century in Findagrave can fill in the birthdate as customs have changed.
RECOGNIZING DIGITS:
A 9 and a 6 have NO indentation on the right resp left.
A 3 and an 8 have indentations on the right (8 also on the left) in the middle.
A 3 and a 5 swing left at bottom, but NOT to the middle.
A 7 is leaning backward; a 1 is straight up.
A 5 has horizontal straight bar at top, but a 6 is curving upward.
If 1818 reads like 18 18 it probably is 1848 as the 4 takes up more space than a 1.
GRAVESTONE PHOTOGRAPHY:
I had with me: a brush, small shovel, bucket, decent size MIRROR (to project sunlight onto a stone at an ACUTE angle), sickle (!), saw, scissors, string and rope, camera, tripod, flashlight. I had to use ALL, even in an abandoned cemetery...
STATISTICS:
1 July 2021: I just reached 100,000 edits, in 1yr 6mo.
180/d for 540 days.... What a job!
29 Dec 2021: 122,000 edits in 2 years....
29 Dec 2022: 150,000 edits and still going strong....
1 Jun 2023: (new edit system) over 203,000 edits!
24 Jan 2024: 220,000 edits.
Duplicates reported: 12 Sep 2023: 7000; 7 Oct: 8000; 1 Nov: 9000, 1 Feb 2024: 10,000 !!
Another statistic: ~15% of people aged over 100 have wrong dates! Often caused by a sticky key: e.g. 1962 becomes 1996. Or 1977 intended, 1997 entered. Or 1933 is read as 1983. And born 1866 = 1886....
Good luck to all working for this wonderful site!