Name Variant Search
Your ancestor wasn't always called what you think they were called.
Old records used nicknames, abbreviations, and informal names all the time. Thos for Thomas. Wm for William. Betsy for Elizabeth. If you're only searching one version of a name, you're missing people. Use this tool to find every variant that might show up in the historical record.
Start typing a name to search across 870 formal names and their historical variants.
Sources: USGenWeb, CT State Library, FamilySearch, Ancestry.com Learning Hub
Why This Matters for Black Genealogy
Records from slavery, Reconstruction, and the Jim Crow era often used nicknames, abbreviations (Thos for Thomas, Wm for William, Jno for John, Robt for Robert), or informal names rather than formal given names. A person named Elizabeth might appear as Betsy, Libby, or Liza across different documents. West African day names like Cuffee, Quamino, and Cudjoe appear in plantation records and ship manifests. Knowing these variants is critical when searching census records, Freedmen's Bureau files, church records, and other historical documents.
Their Names: Enslaved People Who Built the University of Alabama
The following names are drawn from the University of Alabama's Studying Slavery database - a research project documenting enslaved people whose lives and labor helped build the university. The first four (Ben, Sam, Moses, and Isaac) were enslaved directly by the university. Others were enslaved by faculty, college presidents, trustees, or hired from local enslavers.
View Full Database at UA →Clicking a name searches the name variant tool and opens that person's UA database entry. Source: studyingslavery.ua.edu