What goes around comes around

What goes around comes around

It seems like every young mother I run into these days is toting along a new baby girl with an old name. I can't believe how many Graces, Charlottes, Victorias, Ellas, and Sophias I've been meeting.

The top 5 female baby names of last year:

Isabella
Emma
Olivia
Sophia
Ava

Is this odd to anyone else? Where do all these antique names come from? Are they family names? Are we aiming for some sort of connection to the past, to times we consider (however naively) to be simpler?

Also, if what's old is new again, what about naming your daughter some of the forgotten names of yore:

Bessie, Hattie, Pearl, Cora, Blanche, and perhaps my favorite unfortunate old-time name, Dorcas.

What names do you predict will rule the 2010s?

Why 14-year-old-girls everywhere are begging for genealogy lessons

Why 14-year-old-girls everywhere are begging for genealogy lessons

Just in time for the release of yet another Twilight movie, Ancestry.com announced an exciting discovery about heartthrob and leading star Robert Pattinson.

Apparently America’s most tweeted vampire is distantly related to Vlad the Impaler, yes, the infamous Romanian Prince who inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Meaning Pattison has more than just natural talent for acting sulky, sultry and undead. He does in fact have bloodsucking in his, well, bloodline.

But other than the obvious publicity this announcement gives to the Twilight saga, perhaps it will also act as a catalyst for tweens everywhere to get more involved in genealogy. Along with this revelation came the announcement that the Pattinson-Dracula connection extends to the British royal family as well. Dracula, Prince William and Prince Harry? Be still my heart!

Perhaps it was fate that Pattison accepted a role that runs in the family, or maybe it was just a really lucky break. But either way, we’re hoping this creates even more awareness in a younger generation about the “cool” factor of genealogy.

So what about you? Have you found any startling discoveries in your past that explain some of the life choices you’ve made? Do you think it’s just a coincidence, or do you think it runs in your [enter Dracula cackle] blood?

Geography Lessons

Geography Lessons

Want to learn your family history? Get a degree in geography.

Many beginning researchers believe that the most important documents they can find on their family are birth certificates, marriage licenses, and burial records. While all of these are vital, don't overlook another crucial family history document—the hard-to-fold but indispensable map.

When doing family history research, it's important to put your ancestors not only in their place in time, but also in their place in geography. Our ancestors, just like us, were going actual places. If you have never been to those places yourself, looking at a map gives you a better understanding of how your ancestors lived their lives.

If family legend relates the story of Great-Grandpa going to visit Great-Grandma every Friday before they were married, one learns a lot more about their dedication to each other if the two towns are thirty miles apart.

This is the tiny island where my paternal line comes from. Can any of you aspiring cartographers identify it? I'll send a few The Generations Project Season One episodes on DVD to the first person to correctly answer.


In the meantime, start looking around and asking relatives about ancestral locations. You never know what you might learn from looking at a map. Just don't ask me how to get it folded back up correctly when you're done.