My Historical Name Verification Quest
Started researching some old European royal families last week, something simple like genealogy. Wanted to pin down the exact spellings for some medieval kings’ names, especially those tricky regional variations. Figured it’d be quick, just hop online. Turns out I was dead wrong.
First mistake: trusted the first few websites that popped up. Searched for something basic like “King Charlemagne real name“, clicked the top results. Pages looked polished, kinda historical, even had fancy seals. Seemed legit! Copied down “Karl der Grosse” and moved on.
Later, stumbled upon another site discussing the same guy. This one called him “Carolus Magnus”. Wait, what? That’s totally different. Now I’m confused. Which one is actually right? Double-checked both sites. Couldn’t find any credentials for the authors, no sources cited anywhere, just walls of text. Felt my trust evaporate.
Decided I needed proper sources. Not just anything online. Found some scattered suggestions pointing towards national archives and university collections. Problem? Half the links were broken, and others led to paywalls demanding crazy fees just to see a scanned document. Needed a list of places that were actually free and actually trustworthy.
Got stubborn. Dug deeper, this time avoiding generic searches. Focused specifically on “reliable historical name sources Europe free” and variations. Started reading forums where history buffs hang out, looking for repeat mentions of platforms. Ignored single-suggestion sites. Here’s my eventual practice path:
- Foundational Sifting: Went back to big online library collections. Not the popular, vague ones. Looked for direct portals to national digital libraries of specific European countries. Had to figure out their search filters.
- University Dive: Searched “[University Name] special collections digital” for top European universities known for history departments. Had to navigate often clunky university websites to find their digital archives. Lots of trial and error finding the ‘open access’ sections.
- Project Focus: Looked for specific historical name projects run by historians. Used terms like “European historical name standardization project“. Read project documentation carefully to see who funded it and who the researchers were. Rejected anything without clear academic backing.
- Verification Test: Picked a controversial name spelling I knew historians argue about. Plugged it into every free resource I found. Compare all results side-by-side. Any resource giving a single, unchallenged answer without explanation got flagged as potentially oversimplified. Trustworthy ones showed variation and context.
Finally compiled my shortlist. It took hours of clicking, comparing, and getting frustrated by dead ends. My final free resources for trusted European historical names?
- The European Archive Gateway: Aggregator pointing to national archives. Free. Dry interface, but it pulls direct from sources.
- Several Major University Digital Collections: Specifically the sections flagged “Primary Sources” or “Historical Documents”. Free access to scans of old records with proper citations.
- Two Open-Access Historical Name Projects: Run by university history departments. Clear project teams, peer-reviewed publications cited. Includes explanations of name origins and variations.
- The OldNameFinder Wiki (with caution): Found it gets cited by academics sometimes. BUT: only trust entries that have a long list of verified sources linked at the bottom. Ignore any entries with minimal sourcing.
Massive difference compared to my starting point. Now I know to look for the academic backbone and where to find it for free. Saved that final list offline so I never start from scratch again!
