In researching through older texts, you may come across some weird terminology. There are many acronyms and abbreviated words unique to genealogy and family history research that may not be easily found in any other industry’s terminology. Here are some of the more commonly used acronyms and abbreviations: (Courtesy of the familysearch wiki)
Abt -About or Circa; a guessed date, e.g., “Abt 1745
ACPL- Allen County Public Library; library in Fort Wayne, Indiana with extensive genealogy collections. Librarians at the Allen County Public Library maintain PERSI (see next)
PERSI – the PERiodical Source Index, which indexes genealogical and local history sources from periodicals.
AF Ancestral File; Ancestral File is a collection of over 35 million names linked into family groups and pedigrees. The records include information voluntarily contributed to familysearch.org by patrons from 1978-1991
Aft-After. The date is known to be later than a specified date, e.g., “Aft 1900”.
AG- Accredited Genealogist. Title given to individuals who pass accreditation exams of the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists.
AGBI- American Genealogical Biographical Index; A large name index of genealogies published by the Godfrey Memorial Library. The data also include unindexed and partially indexed genealogies and several specialized vital record collections and census data from 1790.
bap.- Baptized
Bef -Before. The date is known to be before the specified date, e.g. “Bef 1930”.
BMD -Births, Marriages, and Deaths; sometimes written BDM.
Cal- Calculated. The date was calculated from a source. If you can only calculate, for example, a birth/marriage date based upon a census or the birth date based upon the death date, e.g. “Cal 1854”.
CFI- Computer File Index, later known as the IGI (see next)
IGI International Genealogical Index
CG- Certified Genealogist. Title given to individuals who pass the certification exam of the Board for Certification of Genealogists.
chr- Christened
c / ca – Circa. Approximately (ex. “ca 1535” means “in about 1535”)
CNBL- Cannot Be Located
DAR- Daughters of the American Revolution; Lineage society for female descendants of soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War. The DAR Library in Washington, D.C. houses significant genealogical collections and is open to the public.
DOB / DOD – Date of Birth / Date of Death
DUP International Society Daughters of the Utah Pioneers; Lineage society for female descendants of early Utah settlers. Sponsors Pioneer Memorial Museum, and Pioneer Histories Digitization Project.
EKA – Earliest known ancestor.
Est- Estimated. The date was estimated based upon family stories / traditions / standard genealogical estimations, e.g. “Est 1848”. Standard genealogical standards include: man marrying at 25, woman marrying at 21, first child one year after marriage, and subsequent children every two years. For example, marriage in 1825, would give the husband’s birth “Est 1800”, wife’s birth “Est 1804”, first child’s birth “Est 1826”, second child’s birth “Est 1828”, etc.
FASG- Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists.
FGS- Federation of Genealogical Societies
FGRA-Family Group Records Archive. This file was maintained by the Genealogical Society of Utah, a forerunner of the current Family History Library and FamilySearch. The archive consists of Family Group sheets in two parts: a MAIN section containing patron submissions from 1942-1969; and a PATRON section containing patron submissions from 1962-1979.Submissions to the MAIN section were verified for accuracy and received additional processing when they were submitted. Both sections were microfilmed and made available to Family History Centers.
FHC- family history center (to find a family history center near you, click here)
FHL- Family History Library, largest genealogical library in the world. Located in Salt Lake City, Utah and sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
FamilySearch Catalog- FamilySearch Catalog ; searchable catalog of microfilm, fiche, books and periodicals available throughFamilySearch.org.
FSG-Fellow of the Society of Genealogists (London).
GEDCOM- GEnealogical Data COMmunications (instustry standard file format used by genealogy software programs to transfer data)
IAJGS-International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societiesill.Illegitimate (often recorded on birth certificates and other birth records)
inst.- Instant. Present or current month; e.g., “He departed this life on the 25th inst., after a long illness…”
IGI- Inernational Genealogical Index
JGS- Jewish Genealogical Society (see IAJSG)
LDS- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
LOC- Library of Congress; Research arm of the United States Congress. Digital collections include historic newspapers, photographs, family genealogies, biographies and other items of interest to family history researchers.
NARA- National Archives Records Administration; repository of official US government records including census, military, immigration, and other documents of interest to family history researchers.
NEHGS- New England Historic Genealogical Society
NGS-National Genealogical Society; provides education and training in genealogical research methods and works to promote access to and preservation of genealogical records.
PAF- Personal Ancestral File; freeware genealogy software previously provided by FamilySearch; discontinued July 15, 2013.
PRF- Pedigree Resource File; lineage-linked family information submitted by patrons to FamilySearch.
PRO- Public Records Office;
National Archives repository for official public records (birth, marriage, death, census, etc.) for the United Kingdom.
SSDI-Social Security Death Index; master file of US death records reported to the Social Security Administration available for free on-line through Social Security Death Index, ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com, genealogybank.com and other web sites.
TIB- Temple Records Index Bureau, a card-file index system maintained from 1927-1970 containing references to births, christenings and marriages for deceased (dating from 1500) and living persons (to 1970). The TIB was replaced by the CFI (later the IGI).
You may also come across some different glyphs or symbols on old texts. Most of these are obsolete and arent used much any more. However it is nice to have this handy in case you run across them sometime!
What other acronyms, abbreviations have you come across in your research?
