FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Correcting Czech Cities and Towns, Part 1

Project Leader
Heather Mecham

Training Videos
How to Find the Locality and Alternate Place Name Together Two Examples Reversed Names

Task List
Task List

Purpose
Correcting the spellings of Czech cities and towns.

Step 1: Select a Town or City and Assess
1. Go to the Czech Gazetteer Google sheet and put your name next to the town or city you want to correct. 2. Look in the Locality (D) at the name of the town. 3. If the name has unusual characteristics like a slash, comma or parenthesis at the end. Mark it yellow and go to the next locality. If not, go to step two to search for it. See examples below.


 * Aujezd, Ober
 * Aujest, Klein-
 * Aujezd, Groß-
 * Arnultovice (take Hostivin)
 * Bärnsdorf/Tafelfichte

Step 2: Search for the Correct Name of the Locality and Alternate Name Using the Lists of Czech Towns and Cities and German Place Names
1. In a separate browser tab, open List of German Place Names in the Czech Republic and List of Cities and Towns in the Czech Republic. 2. Copy the locality name from the Google sheet. 3. Using control F, search both lists for the locality name until you find it and go to step 4. If you don't find it, go to #9 as sometimes they are found together. 4. If the match has diacritic or accent marks, copy and paste the name in the correct spelling (Locality) column (E). Be sure to "paste values only" to keep the formatting of the Google sheet. 5. If there are no diacritics or accent marks, copy and paste the name from the locality column to the correct spelling (Locality) column. 6. While you have the locality found, check to see if it's alternate place name is nearby. It should be next to it on the list for German place names. If it's on the Czech cities and towns list, you will find it by clicking the link for the town or city name and looking at the top of the page. It will most likely be identified as the German name for the town or city. See examples below. For German place names: For Czech cities and towns: 7. If you find both the locality and alternate place name, you can go back to Step 1 and select another locality. 8. If you don't find the alternate place name or locality name, follow the steps below to search for the alternate place name. 9. Go to the Alternate Place Name Column (F) and copy the alternate place name. 10. Use control F to search the List of Germany Place Names and List of Towns and Cities in the Czech Republic. 11. If the match has diacritic or accent marks, copy and paste the name in the correct spelling (Alternate) column (G). 12. If there are no changes to the spelling, copy the name from column F to column G and go to Step 1. 13. Check to see if the locality name is nearby as in #6 above when you checked for the alternate name by the locality name. 14. If the alternate place name is not found, mark it yellow or go to Part B: Additional Searches (Optional).

Part B: Additional Searches (Optional)
1. NAME IS MORE THAN ONE WORD: If the name has more than one word in the name, they may be reversed. Mlada Boleslav, might be Boleslav Mlada. Try searching with the name flipped or each part of the name separately. If you find a match, check for the parish and judicial district to match in the Google sheet and your search results. Mark it yellow and put the word move in the notes column. 2. NAME IS ONLY ONE WORD: Try the following sites, using the locality or alternate name, followed by a comma and Czechia in the search terms. See example below.
 * Example: Oacar, Czechia


 * Google Maps
 * FamilySearch Places. It sometimes helps to add a a comma and the judicial district after Czechi in the sarch terms.
 * Example: Dzbel, Czechia, Litovel

3. If you can't find it, mark it orange. We will do a second pass with more complicated searches. Commonly-seen words in Czech place names:
 * Czech Wikipeda. You will need Google translate for this. Use Česko instead of Czechia.
 * Horní = upper
 * Dolní = lower
 * Újezd = around-ridden (a settlement newly established in the Middle Ages)
 * Lhota = popular name of Czech villages
 * Mlyn = mill
 * Hora = mountain
 * Stadt = city
 * Starý/Staré = old
 * Nová/Nové/Nový = new
 * domky = houses/residences
 * Svatá/Svatý/Sv = Saint (e.g. Svatá Kateřina)

Part C: Reversed Place Names
Reversed Place Names training video 1. Often when the place name has more than one word, it's reversed. 2. There is no need to change the order of the words in the name, as it could be an old name variation. 3. Add it to the corrections column in the order it is in the locality or alternate column, with diacritics added where appropriate.