by Jane Hendry

Created on: May 14, 2009

What's in a name?

Knowing who we are and where we come from is an important part of growing up in modern times, when families seem to be spread out all over the world. A sense of belonging helps us to feel settled; where 'home' is gives us a sense of stability in our globetrotting, far flung lives. This need for roots has developed into a fascination with family history research. Who and what our ancestors were, and where they came from, is something that more and more people want to find out about.

Genealogy is the study of a family's lineage or family tree. It has played a vital role in history, as it was necessary to follow the lineage of royal families, in order to know who the next heir would be if, for example, a monarch passed away childless. Nowadays people are more interested in finding out their own heritage and discovering the roots of their past. Family history research differs from genealogy in that it takes into account the personal side of the people who came before us. This means that it has become a hobby that challenges and intrigues every generation, and will keep revealing new and exciting information about your own family history as long as you continue to look for it!

The question is: where do you start? In this age of technology the internet is often the first port of call for finding out anything from the meaning of a word to what's happening on the stock market, or what the name of that actor was from that movie you watched the other day. Well, genealogy is no different. The World Wide Web has a wealth of information including societies, blogs and software to help you build your family tree.

There are different approaches that people take in genealogy, depending on the specific area of interest. The classic approach is to follow one line of ancestors. This is usually the male line as it is more easily traceable than the female line. It is a little harder to search for all your ancestors as you will generally be searching for at least twice the number of people, if you follow both the paternal and maternal lines. Another approach is to carry out a one name study. This involves finding all the occurrences of your last name and assigning them family groupings and then trying to work out how they are all related. You may find out that someone else has already started a one name study on your last name, in which case a great deal of the work may already have been done.

Family history research involves one, or a combination

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