Registration Objectives

Members who have registered a study name have accepted a commitment to:

collect all references to the registered name on a worldwide basis

This being so, they will be expected to work towards the goal of collecting a substantial body of worldwide data, possibly (but not necessarily) resulting in their transferring from their initial Category C to either Category A or B. The Guild takes this to mean, for countries of the world where the name is relatively significant and where resources are readily accessible, data as shown in the following list:

A survey of current and historical sources, to give an indication of population distribution over time, including the present day, and to establish, where relevant, any historic geographic origin(s) of the name.
All Civil Registration entries from indexes of births, marriages and deaths, such as those maintained by the General Register Office for England & Wales, New Register House in Edinburgh and the equivalent archives for each country concerned, where available.
All entries in the International Genealogical Index and Vital Record Indexes. Wherever possible, these should be used to refer back to the original source entries, so that a substantial body of entries can be obtained from the relevant parish registers for the area(s) concerned.
Indexes to the national censuses published to date. In particular, reference should be made, where appropriate, to the indexes to the 1881 and 1901 censuses for Great Britain, and the 1880 census for the USA, and others that become readily available. Wherever possible, these should be used to refer back to the original source entries. This will help in reconstructing family groups and to indicate past population distribution.
All entries from major published probate indexes of Wills and Administrations. The references in these to other family members should again help in reconstructing family groups.
Other readily available indexes and records such as those for Baptisms, Marriages, Burials and Monumental Inscriptions (MI).

Many of the above resources are available online.