Spelling

Welcome to the FreeBMD District Aliasers' reference page that discusses whether to use a ! in front of any alias to indicate a misspelling, or whether to leave it as a variant. This page attempts to ensure that different aliasers will give the same judgement on whether an alias is an 'alternative' spelling, a variant, or whether it is a spelling mistake.

General Points

Punctuation

The exceptions are when any of the 'uncertain format characters' have been used, namely [ _ * ] or when a space between words has been omitted. These should be treated as spelling mistakes.

Standard Abbreviations

• Any initial letter can be treated as a valid abbreviation
• A ' can indicate one of more missing letters, either where it is located or earlier in the word
  • e.g. B'p for Bishop
  • e.g. Scarbro' for Scarborough
• The ending borough can be abbreviated to either boro or bro without punctuation
• Especially at the end of a word, the final letter with either a line or dot below it can be treated as a valid abbreviation
  • Bradfd. Y (written with a superscript d and a . below it)
  • Bradfd- Y (written with a superscript d and a - below it)
• A dot at the end of a word can indicate the same as the ' for Scarbro'
  • e.g. Bps. for Bishops

The table below summarizes the correct spellings of 2 or more letters for the words most commonly abbreviated in the names of the districts as recorded in the index books.

Standard Name	Abbreviation		Standard Name	Abbreviation		Standard Name	Abbreviation		Standard Name	Abbreviation
Abbot	Ab Abb Abbt Abt		Bierlow	Bier Bierw Bw		Bishops	Bhs Bps Bs Bshs Bshps Bsps		Bridge	Bge Br
Brigg	Bg Br Brig Brg		Buzzard	Bd Buz Buzd Buzz Buzzd Bz Bzd Bzrd Bzzd		Chipping	Chg Chip Chipg Chipp Chippg Chpg		Church	Ch
Damerel	Da Dal Dam Dame Daml Dl		East	Est Et		Edmunds	Ed Eds		Emlyn	Em Eml Emln Emly En Eyn
Frith	Fr Frh Frth Fth
George	Geo Geor		Glanford	Gland Glanf		Great	Gr Gt		Green	Gn Gr Grn
Hampshire	Hants		Hanover	Ha Han Hanr Hanovr Hanvr		Harborough	Harbro		Hemel	Hem
Hempstead	Hemp Hempd Hempst Hempstd		Isle or Island	Id Is Isd Isld		James	Jas		Kings	Kgs
Lancashire	Lan Lanc Lancs		Lynn	Ln Lyn		Mallett	Mal Mall Ml Mt		Market	Markt Mk Mkt Mt
Marsh	Ma Mrsh Msh		Monmouth	Mon Monm Mons Monsh Month Mth		Mortimer	Mor Morr Mort Mortr Mo Mot Motr Mr Mt		Mowbray	Mby Mow Mowby
North	Nrth Nt Nth		Norton	Nn No Nor Nort Nortn		Pagnell	Pag Pagl Pagll Pagn Pagnl Pg Pgl		Park	Pk
Saffron	Saff Saffn		Saint	Sa St		Severn	Sev Sevn Sn Sv Svn Svrn		Shropshire	Sal Salop Sh Shr Shrop Shrops Slp
Sodbury	Sod Sodby Sodb Sody Sy		Somerset	Sm Som Somt St		South	So Sth		Southwark	Sk South Southk Southwk Sthwk
Spring	Sg Sp Spg Sprg		Square	Sq Sqr Sqre		Stour	St Str		Street	St Str Strt
Stretton	Strett		Surrey	Sy		Thames	Ths		Trent	Tr Trt
Walden	Wn		Ward	Wd		West	Wst Wt		Westminster	West Westm Westminr Westmntr Westmr Westr
Wiltshire	Wilt Wilts		Wintney	Wint Winty Wt Wty Wy		York	Yrk		Yorkshire	Yk Yks Yksh York Yorks

The abbreviations that have been considered (FIOUY still need to be looked at for this category) and decided to constitute spelling mistakes are:-

1. Chipping
   • Chips
2. Marsh
   • Mh
   • Mrh
   • Ms
3. North
   • Nh
   • Nr
   • Nt
4. Shropshire
   • Sa
   • Sp
5. South
   • Sh
   • St
6. Stour
   • Sor
   • Sr
7. Surrey
   • Suy
8. Trent
   • Tre
9. Tyne
   • Te
   • Ty
10. Walden
    • Wd
11. West
    • Ws

Incorrect Plurality is a Spelling Mistake

i.e. Bishop Stortford and abbreviations for Bishop are spelling mistakes for Bishops Stortford

Word Order

• an alternative spelling if
  • the change is between the order of 'parish, district' or 'district or parish'
    e.g. Westminster St James is an alternative spelling for St James, Westminster
  • the geographical information is a prefix or a suffix
    e.g. Aylesford N is an alternative spelling for North Aylesford
• a spelling mistake if
  • the change is within the one of the clauses (i.e. parish or district)
    e.g. Westminster James St is a spelling mistake for St James, Westminster since the 'St' comes after the 'James' in the parish part
    e.g. Stortford Bishops is a spelling mistake for Bishops Stortford
  • the parts of the parish and mixed in with the parts of the district
    e.g. George Hanover Square St for the parish of St George in the district of Hanover Square

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  Copyright © 1998-2003 Graham Hart, Ben Laurie, Camilla von Massenbach and David Mayall. We make no warranty whatsoever as to the accuracy and completeness of the FreeBMD data.