How do I join the Guild?

The Guild welcomes as members all who have an interest in one-name studies.

You can join the Guild either by post or online¹.

To join by post, simply print off the Membership Application Form, complete it, and send it, with your first year's subscription, to the Guild Registrar at the address below.

To join online, fill in the online Membership Application Form, which allows you to pay your subscription either by PayPal or by credit card.

You don't have to register the surname you are studying; instead you can join as an ordinary member and still gain from most of the Guild's facilities and benefits. You can apply to register a surname at any time you feel ready.

Completing the Application Form

The Guild likes to be as friendly as it can, and prefers to record the names of its members in the Register of One-Name Studies with a forename and a surname. The forename you record should be the one by which you would like to be known.

The printed version of the Register may impose constraints on the display of your address and contact details. We reserve the right to curtail addresses to fit the space available, for instance by omitting a house name or by using abbreviations.

It is a condition of Membership that your contact details (postal address and email address if you have one) will be stored in our database and will appear in the Register of One-Name Studies. The Register circulates widely in its paper and online versions amongst genealogists of all kinds, not just one-namers. The Guild takes care, however, to ensure that members' data is held securely and cannot be automatically "harvested" from our website.

Surname Registration

You are not obliged to register a surname. If you wish, you can become a member and gain from the Guild's services and benefits before considering surname registration. However, if you want to register a surname now, please tick the request box on the form, and a surname registration form will be sent to you. Note that there is a separate one-off registration fee of £12.00 payable for each surname registered.

Where to send the Form

If you are joining the Guild by post, then please send the completed Application Form with the subscription fee of £15.00 to the Registrar:

Dr David Mellor, 2 Bromley Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham, Notts NG2 7AP, United Kingdom

Payments to the Guild must be in UK currency. We accept cheques or postal orders payable in sterling in the UK. We cannot accept payment in other currencies, as they are too costly to convert into sterling. You can also pay by credit or debit card (Mastercard or VISA only).

¹Please note, when joining the Guild either by post or online, the Guild's "Distance Selling" terms and conditions.