Indexing Names

Handling personal and geographic names can be complicated. Many rules apply to personal names. Generally, you enter the surname followed by forename or initials:

Kain, Karen
lang, k.d. (Kathy Dawn Lang)
Roosevelt, Franklin D.

Academic degrees are dropped but British titles of rank and some suffixes such as “Jr.” may be kept:

Banting, Sir Frederick Grant
LaSalle, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de

Special rules apply to handling prefixes in French, German and other European names. Different rules may apply to names of Asian origin as well:

Beethoven, Ludwig van
De Gaulle, General Charles
Don Juan
Gogh, Vincent van
Las Heras, Manuel Antonio
Midhat Pasha
Sun Yat-sen
Thant, U
Tocqueville, Alexis de
Van Eyck, Jan
Vaughan Williams, Ralph

Names of geographic features that begin with the type of feature, such as Mt. or Lake, are inverted when entered in the index:

Ontario, Lake
Revelstoke, Mt.
Scott, Cape

On the other hand, you do not invert proper place names that begin with a type of feature:

Cape Scott Provincial Park
Lake Louise
Mt. Revelstoke National Park

Note that "Lake Louise" is a picturesque, little town nestled in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada.

For specific guidance on handling personal and geographic names, see Indexing Books by Nancy Mulvany or The Chicago Manual of Style. For the correct spelling or form of a personal name, you may wish to check a standard reference source such as Merriam-Webster’s Biographical Dictionary or the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Getting names right will help your readers and make your publication more professional.

Fred Brown
Allegro Technical Indexing
fred.brown@allegrotechindexing.com
(613) 728-9373

March, 2002
Allegro Time!