I have written a lot previously about One-Name Studies (If you are new here, welcome! – you can read all the posts about researching surnames HERE).

Firstly, if you are completely new to the concept of a One-Name Study, a little background. It is essentially a project whereby someone attempts to record, track and reconstruct families of the same surname, where ever they may geographically appear and across all time frames. In the United States these are frequently referred to single surname studies.

It is very much human nature that we want to belong to “something” – families, a group, organisations and so forth. The Guild of One-Name Studies is the leading Surname group, having been formed in 1979. I am just back from the Guild 40th Conference. The Guild is an amazing organisation, it’s member benefits are fantastic and it is hard to believe that the entire organisation runs on volunteers; members giving their time to help other members. A wonderful ethos. If you are interested in the history of the Guild you can read the old newsletters and journals from the first one up until the last three years. More recent journals are available to members only.

I joined the Guild in 2002 and immediately registered the surname of Orlando. I do not regret that and my only regret is that I did not register the Butcher surname earlier! There are a great deal of member benefits and I have a few favourites!

Over the course of the next 30 days we are going to cover the details of such a project. I will use some examples and perhaps set a few challenges and tasks so that you can perhaps try them out on your own family names and see if such a project appeals to you.

One thing I can be sure of, is that you will never, ever be bored again!

Try out Tip – Visit the Guild website and explore. Some sections are only available to members, despite that there is a lot of information to whet your appetite. What have you discovered and enjoyed on the site? Why not leave a comment or two!

More of this will be covered on the Pharos Introduction course to One-Name Studies.