Handwriting of our Ancestors 
TITLES AND OTHER NAME DESIGNATIONS
The almost endless range of titles includes military rank, occupation, ranking in the family, government stations, and many more. In Family Archives containing census information, most titles appear in front of the given name, but do not affect name alphabetization. Thus, "Lieutenant John Smith" would appear as "Smith, Lieutenant John." He would be listed next to all of the other individuals named "Smith, John," rather than next to those whose first names started with "L." As a side note, "Doctor" was not only an occupational title, but was sometimes a legal first name in the 19th century.
Titles that normally come after a name, such as "Sr.," "Jr.," "II," or "Esq." appear after the given name. For example, "John Smith, Jr." would appear as "Smith, John, Jr." In the census pages from south Louisiana, the use of "pere" or "fils" differentiated the father and son, such as "Jeansonne, Onidine pere" for "Jeansonne, Onidine, Sr." and "Jeansonne, Onidine fils" for Jeansonne, Onidine, Jr."
NICKNAMES AND VARIATIONS
It is quite common to call an individual by a much shorter name than what they were given at birth. The following examples give the real names and the possible nicknames:
| Elizabeth Thomas | Bess, Beth or Betty Thomas |
| Daniel Jones | Danl Jones |
| Benjamin Smith | Benny of Ben Smith |
| William Brown | Will or Bill Brown |
| Anastasia Lee | Mousy Lee |
However, never assume that all nicknames are short for a longer given name. "Bess," "Beth," "Betty," "Liz," "Ben," "Will," "Bill," "Billy," "Freddy" and "Tom" are all very real given names.