Ancestry.com confusion...

[C5Allroad]

So I've always wondered what if your name was Rebecca Gomez or Luis Rodriguez? Will it know which family you belong to?

[SpAmRaY]

Are you drunk?

[Novus]

Are you drunk?

Giggity

[C5Allroad]

Are you drunk?

No. But I am sick and on 3 hours of sleep. #turndownforwat....
There are like 15 different Gomez's at my school.

[Novus]

Are you drunk?

No. But I am sick and on 3 hours of sleep. #turndownforwat....
There are like 15 different Gomez's at my school.

Are you being racist?

[rowdy]

My name is neither of the above, so I am probably not qualified to answer.

[katushkin]

I think it's a fair point.

You have to think of English names like Smith, or Jones or something, other really common ones. Were surnames from other languages done in the same way as English? I'm thinking job titles and things. I don't think it's racist, like a lot of things, it's a decent observation.

[Novus]

I don't even ...

It's like you guys woke up today and suddenly realized there might be entire families of poor bastards who might share the surname with you but GASP you aren't related at all. OMG WHAT HAS THIS WORLD COME TO? PANIC PANIC IDENTITY FRAUD.

[katushkin]

Everyone is related if you go back far enough.

[HoffmanMyster]

I don't understand the confusion.  There are tons of people with the same name in the world.  It's clearly a more complicated system than "match last names together".

[Novus]

I don't understand the confusion.  There are tons of people with the same name in the world.  It's clearly a more complicated system than "match last names together".

Apparently there's people that don't understand how public records and the census works ... which is actually what the OP is asking about with his poorly phrased question.

Everyone is related if you go back far enough.

Wrong. That's evolution non-sense.
I'm not related to some retarded anus frog fish squirrel.

[smknjoe]

Ancestry.com is only as good as the genealogy that other users have contributed. I laugh every time I see their commercials. Unless you get lucky, your chances of finding an accurate family tree (that you are a member of) that goes back hundreds of years are about as good as winning the lottery.

You are better off doing the leg-work yourself. Which involves searching marriage/death/birth records along with visiting some of these courthouses and graveyards in person. Depending on how far back you want to go it  can take years.

[katushkin]

Wow, so much anger.

Even with a census, how many people with common names are born to parents with common names every year? In Wales there are literally thousands of people called David Jones. There is going to be some way of them determining it, but of course it's going to be a lot harder than a "Majongwe" in southern Texas or a "Schmidt" in the Bronx.

It's still a valid point if you try to look past your anger.

[smknjoe]

How was my post "angry"? I was pointing out that the site only works if someone in your family has drawn up a family tree and posted it or if the courthouses in the areas that your family is from have made pertinent records available online (which is still pretty rare. Especially, the further back you go.) I didn't say anything about the census since they don't help much in many cases.

[naasfu]

i am your father.

[Novus]

i am your father.

[katushkin]

I probably should have added a quote to who that was directed at, and it wasn't you, so apologies for that.

[Novus]

[SpAmRaY]

Are you drunk?

No. But I am sick and on 3 hours of sleep. #turndownforwat....
There are like 15 different Gomez's at my school.

Oh so this is about you stalking a girl you are interested in, makes sense.

[welsinki]

[Tarzan]

How was my post "angry"? I was pointing out that the site only works if someone in your family has drawn up a family tree and posted it or if the courthouses in the areas that your family is from have made pertinent records available online (which is still pretty rare. Especially, the further back you go.) I didn't say anything about the census since they don't help much in many cases.

Plus, Ancestry.com is run by the Mormon Church.  Any and all information harvested from people curious about their family trees is used to identify ancestor/relatives of church members.  Mormons believe that when anyone converts to their church, all their ancestors do so as well, retroactively.  (Probably a major over-simplification, but you get the gist.)

Kind of like Google, run by a religious group.

[Novus]

How was my post "angry"? I was pointing out that the site only works if someone in your family has drawn up a family tree and posted it or if the courthouses in the areas that your family is from have made pertinent records available online (which is still pretty rare. Especially, the further back you go.) I didn't say anything about the census since they don't help much in many cases.

Plus, Ancestry.com is run by the Mormon Church.  Any and all information harvested from people curious about their family trees is used to identify ancestor/relatives of church members.  Mormons believe that when anyone converts to their church, all their ancestors do so as well, retroactively.  (Probably a major over-simplification, but you get the gist.)

Kind of like Google, run by a religious group.

I'm so bi-religious and confused.
 

[paicrai]

"Who ****ed your mom, and who ****ed her mom and so on?"

[Novus]

How I met your mother already ended.

[paicrai]

"Who ****ed your dad?"

[RabRhee]

The key to most stuff like Ancestry.com is date and location of birth, death, marriage, and other significant dates/places. The names are almost secondary in that regard, not just because names can change by design or accident, especially if you go back more than 2-3 centuries.

This is also why if you are a criminal stopped by the police, it is important to give a false date of birth, not just a false name. It is also why Facebook and other sinister data gathering sites always want to know locations, such as where you went to school and graduated, etc etc.

[C5Allroad]

The key to most stuff like Ancestry.com is date and location of birth, death, marriage, and other significant dates/places. The names are almost secondary in that regard, not just because names can change by design or accident, especially if you go back more than 2-3 centuries.

This is also why if you are a criminal stopped by the police, it is important to give a false date of birth, not just a false name. It is also why Facebook and other sinister data gathering sites always want to know locations, such as where you went to school and graduated, etc etc.

Tinfoil hat mode is in the way again.


Anyway.... This was what myself and a few of my friends were talking about after lunch. But wait, why would people chose the name Gomez? I feel like I am naturally high....

[Novus]

The key to most stuff like Ancestry.com is date and location of birth, death, marriage, and other significant dates/places. The names are almost secondary in that regard, not just because names can change by design or accident, especially if you go back more than 2-3 centuries.

This is also why if you are a criminal stopped by the police, it is important to give a false date of birth, not just a false name. It is also why Facebook and other sinister data gathering sites always want to know locations, such as where you went to school and graduated, etc etc.

Tinfoil hat mode is in the way again.


Anyway.... This was what myself and a few of my friends were talking about after lunch. But wait, why would people chose the name Gomez? I feel like I am naturally high....

Gomez is a common Spanish surname.
Although sometimes in the past, customs would just give people an arbitrary name if they were immigrating and the customs officers couldn't understand it.

[Tarzan]

The key to most stuff like Ancestry.com is date and location of birth, death, marriage, and other significant dates/places. The names are almost secondary in that regard, not just because names can change by design or accident, especially if you go back more than 2-3 centuries.

This is also why if you are a criminal stopped by the police, it is important to give a false date of birth, not just a false name. It is also why Facebook and other sinister data gathering sites always want to know locations, such as where you went to school and graduated, etc etc.

For people who are seriously interested in keeping their personal data as anonymized as possible, you can always legally change your name to a single name (not Cher or Moby, though).  This strategy works best if you pick a personal name that's also a place name, like London or Salem.  There are 18 places in the US alone called Salem, but Franklin is even better - 42 instances.  Liberty also works, 38 of those in the US.

[Novus]

The key to most stuff like Ancestry.com is date and location of birth, death, marriage, and other significant dates/places. The names are almost secondary in that regard, not just because names can change by design or accident, especially if you go back more than 2-3 centuries.

This is also why if you are a criminal stopped by the police, it is important to give a false date of birth, not just a false name. It is also why Facebook and other sinister data gathering sites always want to know locations, such as where you went to school and graduated, etc etc.

For people who are seriously interested in keeping their personal data as anonymized as possible, you can always legally change your name to a single name (not Cher or Moby, though).  This strategy works best if you pick a personal name that's also a place name, like London or Salem.  There are 18 places in the US alone called Salem, but Franklin is even better - 42 instances.  Liberty also works, 38 of those in the US.

Porn Alias?

[Tarzan]

For people who are seriously interested in keeping their personal data as anonymized as possible, you can always legally change your name to a single name (not Cher or Moby, though).  This strategy works best if you pick a personal name that's also a place name, like London or Salem.  There are 18 places in the US alone called Salem, but Franklin is even better - 42 instances.  Liberty also works, 38 of those in the US.

Porn Alias?

I like Liberty because it's equally appealing to right-wingers and liberals.  Righties think you're a fellow gun nut and anti-government whacko, and liberals think you're a hard-core ACLU supporter.  (For the record; I'm in the latter camp.)

Plus there are the movie tie-ins;  The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Liberty Stands Still, Sons of Liberty, etc.  IMDB shows 200 matches with "Liberty" as either the full or partial title.

I hadn't thought of the porn alias angle, but that's a good catch!

[baldgye]

Wrong. That's evolution non-sense.
I'm not related to some retarded anus frog fish squirrel.

hahahahahahahaha

[C5Allroad]

Wrong. That's evolution non-sense.
I'm not related to some retarded anus frog fish squirrel.

hahahahahahahaha

Oh yea! ***Throws science facts*** We have the same bone structure (2 bones in arms)

[baldgye]

I want to know more about this 'retarded anus frog fish squirrel'

[Lanx]

(Attachment Link)

ugh, i hate that i know the origin of this "quote"/song lyric.

also pretty sure ancestry.com is only for white ppl, cuz, well, white ppl.

[C5Allroad]

Now we're being racist?

[smknjoe]

also pretty sure ancestry.com is only for white ppl, cuz, well, white ppl.

...and people say that only white people are racist...

[fohat.digs]

piss off, peons

I am George Washington's 8th cousin, 6 times removed

not kidding

[Tarzan]

also pretty sure ancestry.com is only for white ppl, cuz, well, white ppl.

...and people say that only white people are racist...

It's probably because we're the most obvious about it.  Lots of people are racist, as the majority population group in the US, whites tend to have an inherent blindness about our own actions.

[baldgye]

also pretty sure ancestry.com is only for white ppl, cuz, well, white ppl.

...and people say that only white people are racist...

It's probably because we're the most obvious about it.  Lots of people are racist, as the majority population group in the US, whites tend to have an inherent blindness about our own actions.

datironyissohotandbuttery

[smknjoe]

piss off, peons

I am George Washington's 8th cousin, 6 times removed

not kidding

Member of the Society of the Descendants of Washington's Army at Valley Forge ...yo! http://www.valleyforgesociety.com/
...you're welcome.