Registration commitments

When you apply to register a surname, we will ask you to agree in writing to the following two commitments:

You must agree to collect all references to your registered name or names on a worldwide basis, and strive towards the goal of establishing a substantial body of worldwide data, in particular for countries where the name is relatively significant and where sources are readily available. A study restricted to one country, part of a country, or the descendants of a particular individual, does not meet our criteria.
You must agree to deal with all reply-paid enquiries and emails that you receive relating to your registered surname(s)

For one of the more frequently-occurring surnames, this can represent a very significant workload. While active data collection and research can be confined to scheduled periods so as not to impact other activities unduly, "passive" data collection - where data about the registered name is passed to the one-namer without his or her initiating it - may require time to be spent on collating the information, or the information is lost. Similarly, the one-namer has no control over when enquiries come in about the name, and has an obligation to respond.

We would ask those interested in registering a surname to consider seriously whether they have the commitment and resources, especially of time, either individually or as a member of a group, to gather, store, and collate the necessary material and to respond to a possible multitude of enquiries.