The "Wandering Genealogist" continues her tour of Southern Ontario

I'm having such a great time on my SOLS workshop tour of Southern Ontario. I'm very grateful to SOLS, the workshop participants and the host libraries. Two stops done - only three more to go, and there's still some room in all three remaining locations: Barrie, Paris, and Port Hope.

My most recent stop was the Westmount Branch of the London Public Library, run by Alastair Neeley. He reminded our group of the upcoming "Wired Genealogy" conference coming May 30-Jun 1 at Fanshawe College, and particularly of his session, "For King and Country: Military Records." He will be providing his lecture materials on CD, so if you're not able to attend, please email him as he would be happy to send out a CD to you at your library via the SOLS courier. I leave it to the Ontario library staff who follow this blog to find Alastair's contact information rather than including it here for all the spammers to find.

For those looking for an incredible learning opportunity, "Wired Genealogy" is still accepting registrations. Dick Eastman will be delivering the Houston Lecture on Friday evening, and accomodations are available at Fanshawe College for those travelling a distance to attend.

Oh, and the new nickname is courtesy of a colleague. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet;

This post title brought to you by William Shakespeare and his play, Romeo and Juliet.

Quotations aside, one of the things I'm often asked about are the meaning of names or their origins, especially if a family historian is coming across older, less common names. It's important to turn to a reliable resource to research name meanings, or their "etymology." Once such resource is Behind the Name, where I've learned that my first name is not only English but also has German usage. It also provides links down the right side of the page so that you can find the popularity of a particular name (Ebba is a LOT more popular in Sweden currently than it is in the US) as well as any related names, namesakes and name days. The two drawbacks to the site? My middle name isn't included, and the current ad is of a certain president whom I can't wait to see leave office.