Genealogy Cataloging & File Naming Standards

20 October 2024 – This is an old version and is in the process of being updated. The new version should be available sometime in January 2025.

Throwing everything into one folder often means you cannot locate the item you are looking for efficiently.
It is important to create a set of archive folders according to specific topics.

Saving a large number of files without using a consistent file naming standard is bad practice. For example:

Yesterday I saved a file as DavidWaltersFirstSon.
Today I saved the same file as FirstSonDavidWalters.
Tomorrow I may save the same file as 1923_David_Walters.
It is important to use consistent naming for every file.

Many years ago, I fell into the same trap eventually realizing I needed to write a document that defined which folder/directory I would place a file into, and how I would name that file. The intent of the document was to keep me ‘Honest’ and be a future reference to avoid this problem.

The document I created does not fit all the standards. Sometimes. I still find new items that do not fit my standards. I then put them into an unknown category until I have enough similar items to create a new standard.

Technically, or for those with technical capabilities, the format I chose for file names is organized so I can perform a File Directory/Folder ‘Dump’ to a .csv file which can then be loaded into an Excel Worksheet. This enables me to identify errors or even files that have been misplaced. The format also allows me to sort a folder/directory by date.

The document is an extract from a larger document that was written for TNG, the product I use for my genealogy WEB sites. While nothing is perfect, feel free to use my standards, modify them or create your own.
What is important is that you have and use a genealogy archive, with file naming standards.

Digital Library/Archive Catalog

These should be organized into like groups, one primary folder for each major family branch followed by these sub-folders.

  • Census
    • All worldwide census records.
  • Documents
    • Birth, Christening, Marriage, Death, Burial records.
  • Headstones – Photographs including:
    • Headstones, Cemetery Entrances.
    • Cemetery Maps, Plot Maps.
  • Histories
    • Thumb-nail Biographies.
    • City Trade & Business Guides/Directories.
    • Historical Documents relating to a family member.
    • Historical images relating to a family member.
    • General History documents e.g., Emigration/Immigration/Environment.
  • Legal
    • Probate records.
    • Wills.
    • Land Grants.
    • Naturalization papers.
    • Criminal Records.
    • Anything of a legal nature.
  • Maps
    • City, Plat Maps and Diagrams.
    • (Cemetery maps are in the headstones folder).
  • Marine
    • Engagement & Discharge Papers.
    • Service Books History of Merchant Vessels that family served on
    • Photographs of Merchant Vessels that family served on
    • Other related Merchant Marine Service information
  • Media
    • Sound recordings
  • Military
    • Military Service records – All Services
    • Military Documents
    • History of military battles & conflicts
    • Interment records
    • Military Travel Documents
    • Conscription/Draft Cards
    • Military Medical records
  • Obituaries
    • Newspaper obituaries.
    • Church obituaries.
    • Prayer cards.
  • Other Items
    • Items that do not fit a specific category. Voter Lists/Poll Books, ship photos, trades & employment etc.
  • Photographs
    • Individual & Family Photographs.
  • Reunions
    • Photographs from Family Reunions
    • Documents relating to Organized Family Reunions
  • Sites
    • Homes
    • Churches
    • Farms/Homesteads
    • Schools
    • Any building that is part of the family history
  • Travel
    • Passports images
    • Visa applications
    • Ship/Airline manifests
    • Border Crossings
    • Information about ships/airlines that were used.
    • Photographs of Ships/Aircraft used for transportation.
    • Compilation of travel records for an individual
  • Unknowns
    • Photographs of unknown individuals
  • Videos
    • Digital videos of family interviews

The File Naming Standards

Folder & Image Naming Standards

This document describes the use of an Archive Folder for storing images off-line at full resolution. Each Archive Folder has image naming formats ensuring the image is named uniquely. The overall structure allows images to be located quickly.

The purpose is to ensure consistency in the use of folders, folder names and images located within the Archive Folder. Each section describes how to enter information and how to store information in the Archive folder.

The Archive Folder is divided into subfolders.

General Image Naming Standards

Formats used in the naming standards are:

  • YYYYMMDD: Date in year, month and date format e.g. 18560321 (Meaning genealogy date: 21 May 1856)
  • DD MMM YYYY: Date in day, moth and year format e.g. 21 May 1856
  • FullFamilyName: Always try and enter the individuals full family name (Use the full birth/maiden name for women)
  • Description: (Optional) Add a short description of the item
  • AAAABBCC: (Optional) A secondary date which provides additional information. The format can also be AAAA-BB when used in TNG entries
  • Location/Place: Place or location related to the image item
  • ##: Incremented number which allows additional images of the same document or photograph.
  • []: Is used to indicate a space between portions of an image entry.
  • []&[] : Space+Ampersand+Space
  • “XXXXX”: Use the assigned description in quotations as requested.
  • YYYYZZ Census year with ISO country code e.g. 1851UK
  • (FullFamilyName): For women add either their full family using their maiden name or just a maiden name as required in the specification.

Exceptions – Missing Dates and Names

There will be exceptions to the general image naming standards when dates and full names are missing or incomplete. Lowercase “x” may be substituted for unknown years, months, and dates using up to eight characters. However, the description portion should contain information related to the item. Always try and follow the format used in each folder. For lengthy explanations of images in the Archive folder, add a .txt file with additional information using the same name as the image so they are always paired. (Example-a large photograph with many people)

The following folders are used (In alphabetical order):

Census:

This folder contains only Census records. There will be variances for countries. Use the starting format YYYYZZ YYYY is the census year and ZZ is two digit ISO country code e.g.

UK = United Kingdom
NZ = New Zealand
GM = Germany
CA = Canada
MX = Mexico
VZ = Venezuela

Enter the exact name for the principal or head individual as identified and written in the census record. The Image incremental number is always used and is useful when a single family is split across two census pages.

The Census variations are;

  1. Head of household
  2. Relative living with a related family. Use the same format as #1
  3. The relative is living with someone other than a related family member
  4. Siblings are living together (married or unmarried)
  5. Siblings are staying or living with someone other than a related family member (married or unmarried). Use their names as head of household.
  6. Two relatives have the same name and are living in the same census location

Census File Naming Standard

  • Folder Name: Census with no subfolders
  • Image Format:
    1. Head of Household or family. YYYYZZ-LastNameFirstName-Location-##
    2. Relative living with a related family. Use the same format as #1
    3. The relative is living with someone other than a related family member. Use the
      same format as #1 but use their name as the head of household.
    4. Siblings are living together (married or unmarried) YYYYZZ – LastNameFirstName&LastNameFirstName-Location-##
    5. Siblings are staying or living with someone other than a related family (married or unmarried). Use the same format as #4 but use their names as the head of household.
    6. Two relatives have the same name and are living in the same census location. Add the wife’s name to both records. If this is not possible, add the suffix “Jnr” to the youngest relative. Use the same format as #1.

Documents:

This folder contains Birth, Baptismal, Marriage, Divorce, Death, Burial and Interment records. There are variances for some of these records. While there may be no headstone, The Cemetery and/or Burial Information should be entered into the individual’s personal record or the family record if a husband and wife are buried together.

There can be unique situations such as family being buried at the same time in the same cemetery and plot. Adjustments may be made by adding both full family names when entering cemetery or burial information. For a married couple buried at the same time use their marriage date (year and month) instead of a birth date. Twins may be listed as TwinOne&TwinTwo instead of a single name.

If a date is unknown substitute an ‘x’ for the missing year, month or day i.e. xxxxxxxx or 186705xx or xxxx0521 depending upon the amount of information available.

Documents File Naming Standard

  • Folder Name: Documents with no subfolders
  • Image Format:
    • Births Only – YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-“Birth”-##
    • Births/Baptisms – YYYYMMDD­[]AAAABBCC-FullFamilyname-“BirthBaptism”-## with YYYYMMDD being the Birth Date and AAAABBCC being the Baptismal Date
    • Baptisms Only – YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-“Baptism”-## with YYYYMMDD being the birth date.
    • Marriage – YYYYMMDD-HusbandsFullFamilyName&Wife’s FullFamilyName-“Marriage”-## with YYYYMMDD being the date of marriage.
    • Divorce – YYYYMMDD[]AAAABBCC-Husbands&Wife’sFamilyName(Wife’sOriginal Family Surname)-“Divorce”-## with YYYYMMDD being the date of marriage and AAAABBCC being the date of divorce or separation
    • Death – YYYYMMDD[]AAAABBCC-FullFamilyName(Wife’sOriginalFamily Surname)-“Death”-## with YYYYMMDD being the date of birth and AAAABBCC being the date of death
    • Death & Cemetery – YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName(Wife’sOriginalFamily Surname)-“Cemetery”-## YYYYMMDD being the Birth Date
    • Death & Burial – YYYYYYMMDD[]AAAABBCC-FullFamilyName(Wife’sOriginalFamily Surname)-“Burial”-## YYYYMMDD being the Birth Date and AAAABBCC being the burial date

If additional information or explanation is needed for a specific record, add the extra detail in a .txt file/record. Name it the same as the image file so they are always shown together.

Headstones:

If you are entering a headstone for the first time, create the cemetery information first and then add the headstone. Once a cemetery is created, you can add more headstones to that cemetery.

This contains photographs of cemeteries, cemetery maps and headstones. If more individuals are buried in the grave than a married couple or if a single individual is buried with a individual other than their spouse, add the word “More” after the Full name entry. In the case of couples, use the family option when entering their link information.

Headstones File Naming Standard

  • Folder Name: Headstones with no subfolders.
  • Image Format:
    1. Individual Headstones, use ZZ-Place-CemeteryName-Description0rName-##-YYYYMMDD-AAAABBCC where:
      • ZZ is the approved ISO two digit country code
      • Place is the village town or city where the cemetery is located
      • CemeteryName is the usual name of the cemetery
      • Description or name is the name of the person or an image description
      • ## is the incremental number
      • YYYYMMDD is the date of birth (if known)
      • AAAAMMDD is the date of death (if known)
    2. Joint Headstone use #1 above with:
      • Description or name = Husband&WifesMarriageName(WifesBirthName) YYYYMMDD – is the date of marriage
      • AAAAMMDD – not used
  • Family Headstone
    • Use the format for either individual or joint headstone.
    • If mixed families use individual or joint and add –“MixedGrave’ before -##
  • Cemetery photographs and maps are named for the cemetery in the following format: ZZ-Place-CemeteryName-Description0rName-## where:
    • ZZ is the approved ISO two digit country code
    • Place is the village town or city where the cemetery is located
    • CemeteryName is the usual name of the cemetery
    • Description or name is the title of the photograph i.e. Map, Entrance, grave map etc.
    • ## is the incremental number

Histories:

This folder contains various histories and other historic notes and information. The image format varies by type of history item:

Histories File Naming Standard:

  • Folder Name: Histories, no subfolders
  • Image Format:
    • PDF Text files – YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-DocumentDescription-## for a history document that is associated with an individual otherwise use a descriptive document name
    • Pictures – YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-Document description-## for a picture that is associated with an individual otherwise use a descriptive document name
    • Directories – X-Name and YYYY of the directory-##
    • Other – X-A descriptive document name-##

Legal:

This folder contains legal documents. These may be Probates records, wills, land-plats, land-grants, property or other land deeds; anything of a legal nature including Naturalization applications and certificates. The format is:

Legal File Naming Standard:

  • Folder Name: Legal-no subfolders
  • Image Format: YYYYMMDD-AAAABBCC-FullFamilyName-Description-##

Maps:

Used for place maps, plat maps and other documents that contain a diagram or a map. Cemetery maps and diagrams go in Headstones

Maps File Naming Standard:

  • Folder Name: Maps
  • Image Format: City or Town-YYYY-Description-##

Marine: (Example of a Special Folder)

This is used for individuals who were employed by the Merchant Marine. If they worked in the Royal Navy, their records will be under the “Military” folder.

This is a special folder as I have many family members who worked in the Merchant Marine in various capacities. As I have a significant number of documents, I created a separate folder to store these items.

If I had just a few individuals who worked in the Merchant Marine, I would have placed their information in the “Occupation Folder.”

Marine File Naming Standard:

Folder Name: Marine with subfolders for each individual by their birth date and full name.

Main Folder: YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName

Format: Each subfolder may contain information about the individual and their marine career. The Image format is flexible. Image format examples are:

  • Information about a ship: Ship name-DocumentDescription-##
  • Photographs of ships: Ship name-##
  • Documents relating to the individual as a crew member: YYYYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-Description-##
  • Crew Manifests: YYYYMMDD-Full name-Ship name-Location-##
  • Documents relating to voyages: YYYYMMDD-Ship name-description-##
  • Discharge papers and certificates: YYYYMMDD-AAAABBCC-Full name-ship name-##

Where possible try and follow the general naming standards with short descriptions.

Media:

This is where all sound recordings are stored.

Media File Naming Standard:

  • Folder Name: SoundRecordings
  • Image Format: YYYYMMDD-AAAABBCC-FullFamilyName-Description-## where AAAABBCC is the date of the recording

Military:

Used for an individuals military record regardless of the service they were in. All service records are entered here.

Military File Naming Standard:

  • Folder Name: Military with subfolders for each individual using their birth date and full name using the format YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-Military Records
  • Image Format: YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-Description-##

Newspapers:

All newspaper cuttings are placed here except for items that are obituaries. Obituaries are placed in the “Obituary” folder.

Newspaper or Magazine cuttings from any source are placed here.

Newspaper File Naming Standard:

  • Folder Name: Newspapers – no subfolders
  • General Image Format: YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-Description-NewspaperSource-##
  • If about an individual use YYYYMMDD as Date of Birth.
  • If about a family use YYYYMMDD as date of marriage of Parents or Couple

Occupations:

This contains items relating to various individuals work, trade or occupation. If ‘Military’ work the information goes into the Military record.

Occupations File Naming Standard:

Folder Name: Occupation with subfolders for each individual by their birth date and full name.

Main Folder: YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName

Format: Each subfolder may contain information about the individual and their career. The Image format is flexible. Image format examples are:

  • Information about an occupation: YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-Occupation-DocumentDescription-##
  • Photographs of an occupation: YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-Occupation-DocumentDescription-##
  • Other documents relating to an individual’s occupation: YYYYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-Description-##
  • Discharge papers and certificates: YYYYMMDD-AAAABBCC-FullFamilyName-Description-##

Obituaries:

Obituaries from any source are placed here.

Obituaries File Naming Standard:

  • Folder: Legal-no subfolders
  • Image Format: YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-Obit-Description-## Description is usually the name/date of the obituary source.

OtherItems:

This is a “catch-all” place to enter items that do not fit in a specific TNG folder or category. Whenever possible, try and use the standard formats.

OtherItems File Naming Standard:

  • Folder Name: OtherItems
  • Image Format: YYYYMMDD-AAAABBCC-FullFamilyName-Description-##

Photos:

Beyond an individual photograph, some photographs can be difficult to standardize as they often contain a mixture of many individuals. Examples include Parents with or without children, siblings with or without children, multiple generations and mixed family groups. Beyond this, there are family photographs with friends or even in-laws. The following naming convention tries to accommodate most of these situations.

Photos File Naming Standards:

  • Folder: Photographs with subfolders for individual and family photographs.
  • Image Format: As described below. It is important only to use the prefix words “Families” or “Pictures” or “YYYYMMDD” followed by a hyphen. All prefixes are then eight digits. The second hyphen and image sequence ## immediately follow the family information. The purpose of this is to facilitate formatting file names into columns if you download a folder for review.
  1. Individual photographs: YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName-##-Description
  2. Husband and wife before marriage : YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyNameFullFamilyName-##-Description where YYYYMMDD is the future wedding date
  3. Husband and wife on wedding date. Same as #2
  4. Husband and wife after Marriage: YYYYMMDD-FirstNameSecondNameFamilyName(Wife’sFamilyName)-##-Description where YYYYMMDD is the marriage date. Example: 19760810-JohnAnitaMeyer-01-OnACruiseIn1990
  5. Parents with children: Same as # 4 adding children’s names to description.
  6. Siblings with without their children: same as # 4
  7. Siblings with-children: YYYYMMDD-FamilyOneFamilyTwo-##-Description where YYYY-MM is marriage date of their parents. Add female Maiden Names as needed in Parenthesis
  8. Mixed family group(s): Use each families last name i.e. Families-FamilyFullNameFamilyFullName-##-Description
  9. Families & Friends: Try and use one of the above items, if none fit, use Pictures-FullFamilyName(s)-##-Description e.g. Pictures-David BellDavidJones-02-HikingIn Devon.

If the description or the family group is too large, create a .txt file with the additional information and use the identical name as the image but with a .txt file extension.

Reunions:

This is a special folder for family reunions. This folder may contain group photographs by the year for each reunion. If an annual event, the folder may also contain copies of documents associated with the reunion such as announcements, publicity, newspaper articles and minutes etc.

Reunions File Naming Standard:

  • Folder Name: Reunions with subfolders by item such as Photographs, Minutes and Publicity (News)
  • Imageformat:
    • News: YYYY-MM-FamilyName-“News”-##
    • Minutes: YYYY-MM-FamilyName-“Minutes”-##
    • Photographs: YYYY-MM-FamilyName-“Photographs”-##

Sites:

The folder contains photographs of schools, churches, farms, homes, places of work etc. Anything that might be a part of played a part in an individual or a family’s life is stored here. The format is:

Sites File Naming Standard:

  • Folder Name: Locations with subfolders for each city or town. City or town name
  • Image Format:
    • Individual Homes: YYYYMMDD-FullFamilyName of Owner or Renter-Town-Street Address-##
    • Other buildings: Town-Name of Building-Description-##

Travel:

This folder contains documents relating to travel for an individual. Documents may be ship and airline passenger manifests, visa applications, copies of Passport entries and port arrival records etc.

Travel File Naming Standard:

  • Folder: For individuals use either their birth date and the full name using the format YYYYMMDD- FullFamilyName-Description-##
  • If a family, use the marriage date and the format: YYYYMMDD[]AAAABBCC-FullFamilyName-Description-## where YYYMMDD is the marriage date
  • Image format: YYYYMMDD-AAAABBCC-FullFamilyName-Description-##

Unknowns:

This is where unknown photographs, documents or negatives are placed. There is a special coding format for each of the images so their source information can be identified.

Negatives with an “N” in front of a number (e.g. N12-06) and owned by [Full Name]

Negatives with an “NKL” prior to a number indicate they are from another source (Negatives loaned by “KL.”

Photographs use a simple numerical number. If provided from elsewhere, the number is preceded by the initials of the owner (two digits), as in negatives.

Unknowns File Naming Standard:

  • Folder Name: VideoRecordingss
  • Image Format: Unknown-####-Description-##

Once the “Unknown” item has been positively identified, update the Archive folder and add a .txt record with more information about how the unknown item was identified and by whom. The record is then removed from TNG.

Videos:

All videos are stored here.

Archive Folder:

  • Folder Name: VideoRecordingss
  • Image Format: YYYYMMDD-AAAABBCC-Full Name-“Video”-## where AAAABBCC is the date of the recording

Coming soon – ability to download a copy of this document.

Document Information: Ownership: John Meyer ©2021. Proprietary document and naming standards. The document may be downloaded and used as a personal reference. It may not be reproduced without the written consent of the owner genealogy@hilbre.com. This extract was created on 30 Jan 2021.