Acronyms and Abbreviations

	The usage of "Mormon" and "LDS" on this page is approved according to current policy.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

There are many acronymns and abbreviated words unique to genealogy and family history research that may not be easily found in any other industry's terminology. Here are some of the more commonly used acronyms and abbreviations:

Abt

About or Circa; an guessed date, e.g., "Abt 1745"

ACPL

Allen County Public Library; library in Fort Wayne, Indiana with extensive genealogy collections. Librarians at the Allen County Public Library maintain PERSI, the PERiodical Source Index, which indexes genealogical and local history sources from periodicals.

AF

Ancestral File; Ancestral File is a collection of over 35 million names linked into family groups and pedigrees. The records include information voluntarily contributed to familysearch.org by patrons from 1978-1991.

Aft

After. The date is known to be later than a specified date, e.g., "Aft 1900".

AG

Accredited Genealogist. Title given to individuals who pass accreditation exams of the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists.

AGBI

American Genealogical Biographical Index; A large name index of genealogies published by the Godfrey Memorial Library. The data also include unindexed and partially indexed genealogies and several specialized vital record collections and census data from 1790.

bap.

Baptized

Bef

Before. The date is known to be before the specified date, e.g. "Bef 1930".

BMD

Births, Marriages, and Deaths; sometimes written BDM.

Cal

Calculated. The date was calculated from a source. If you can only calculate, for example, a birth/marriage date based upon a census or the birth date based upon the death date, e.g. "Cal 1854".

CFI

Computer File Index, later known as the International Genealogical Index (IGI).

CG

Certified Genealogist. Title given to individuals who pass the certification exam of the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

chr

Christened

c / ca

Circa. Approximately (ex. "ca 1535" means "in about 1535")

CNBL

Cannot Be Located

DAR

Daughters of the American Revolution; Lineage society for female descendants of soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War. The DAR Library in Washington, D.C. houses significant genealogical collections and is open to the public.

DOB / DOD

Date of Birth / Date of Death

DUP

International Society Daughters of the Utah Pioneers; Lineage society for female descendants of early Utah settlers. Sponsors Pioneer Memorial Museum, and Pioneer Histories Digitization Project.

EKA

Earliest known ancestor.

Est

Estimated. The date was estimated based upon family stories / traditions / standard genealogical estimations, e.g. "Est 1848". Standard genealogical standards include: man marrying at 25, woman marrying at 21, first child one year after marriage, and subsequent children every two years. For example, marriage in 1825, would give the husband's birth "Est 1800", wife's birth "Est 1804", first child's birth "Est 1826", second child's birth "Est 1828", etc.

FASG

Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists.

FGS

Federation of Genealogical Societies

FGRA

Family Group Records Archive. This file was maintained by the Genealogical Society of Utah, a forerunner of the current FamilySearch Library and FamilySearch. The archive consists of Family Group sheets in two parts: a MAIN section containing patron submissions from 1942-1969; and a PATRON section containing patron submissions from 1962-1979.

Submissions to the MAIN section were verified for accuracy and received additional processing when they were submitted. Both sections were microfilmed and made available to FamilySearch Centers.

FHC

FamilySearch center (to find a FamilySearch center near you, click here)

FHL

FamilySearch Library, largest genealogical library in the world. Located in Salt Lake City, Utah and sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

FamilySearch Catalog

FamilySearch Catalog; searchable catalog of microfilm, fiche, books and periodicals available through FamilySearch.org.

FSG

Fellow of the Society of Genealogists (London).

GEDCOM

GEnealogical Data COMmunications (industry standard file format used by genealogy software programs to transfer data)

IAJGS

International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies

ill.

Illegitimate (often recorded on birth certificates and other birth records)

inst.

Instant. Present or current month; e.g., "He departed this life on the 25th inst., after a long illness..."

IGI

International Genealogical Index

JGS

Jewish Genealogical Society (see IAJSG)

LDS

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

LOC

Library of Congress; Research arm of the United States Congress. Digital collections include historic newspapers, photographs, family genealogies, biographies and other items of interest to family history researchers.

NARA

National Archives Records Administration; repository of official US government records including census, military, immigration, and other documents of interest to family history researchers.

NEHGS

New England Historic Genealogical Society

NGS

National Genealogical Society; provides education and training in genealogical research methods and works to promote access to and preservation of genealogical records.

PERSI

The PERiodical Source Index maintained by the Allen County Public Library of genealogical and local history periodicals, listed by source. PERSI's objective is to, over time, compile a complete subject index of all such periodicals--past and present.

PAF

Personal Ancestral File; freeware genealogy software previously provided by FamilySearch; discontinued July 15, 2013.

PRF

Pedigree Resource File; lineage-linked family information submitted by patrons to FamilySearch.

PRO

Public Records Office; National Archives repository for official public records (birth, marriage, death, census, etc.) for the United Kingdom.

SSDI

Social Security Death Index; master file of US death records reported to the Social Security Administration available for free on-line through Social Security Death Index, Ancestry, GenealogyBank and other websites.

TIB

Temple Records Index Bureau, a card-file index system maintained from 1927-1970 containing references to births, christenings and marriages for deceased (dating from 1500) and living persons (to 1970). The TIB was replaced by the CFI (later the IGI).

Additional Resources

Websites

• Abreviations found in Genealogy at Rootsweb.
• Glossary of Genealogical Terms at Ancestry.
• The A to Z of British Genealogical Research (The Emery Paper): Abbreviations at GENUKI.
• Abbreviations & Acronyms for Genealogy - The Accepted at GENi.
• List of occupation abbreviations at GenealogyInTime.
• Abbreviations for English given names at Wiktionary.

FamilySearch Library Resources

• There are also books which give the definitions of many abbreviated words. One such book is "Abbreviations & Acronyms: a guide for family historians" compiled by Kip Sperry (FS Library book US/Can 929.103Sp37a.)

• Use a Title search for "abbreviations" in the FamilySearch Catalog found on the www.familysearch.org website for other books which define abbreviations and acronyms such as: Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations Dictionary: a guide to acronyms, abbreviations, contractions, alphabetic symbols, and similar condensed appellations by Jennifer Mossman (FS Library book US/Can 428.1 M855a v.1 pt.1 1995.)