To be fair, most of the Latin records I encounter, I don't need to translate word for word. Knowing a record is for a baptism or death, I can usually suss out the dates and locations well enough to enter data in my tree. If I were to stumble across a record I think I might need to translate, I'd more than likely use AI to assist me. Only if I had no other choice, or the record seemed so tantalizing it was worth the effort, would I try to decipher word by word.
The challenge for me is names in Latin. From Wikipedia, "Latinisation (or Latinization) of names, also known as onomastic Latinisation, is the practice of rendering a non-Latin name in a modern Latin style. It is commonly found with historical proper names, including personal names..." In this branch of the family, I'm often starting with a foreign name and then I'm encountering this foreign name in Latin. It can leave me scratching my head!
A good example is Hermann Franz Berendes (1825-1910). Born in Germany (also shown as Prussia in some records) to parents Wilhelm and Anna Berendes, I have a good inking he probably wouldn't have gone by his original given name once he arrived here in the United States. In an effort to sound more American, he likely would have gone by Herman Frank Berendes or Herman Francis Berendes. As it turns out, he appears to have gone simply by Frank Berendes in most records. His parents are most likely going to be shown as William and Anna, or Anne.
To illustrate the challenge of records in Latin, I'd probably be looking for Franciscus filius (son of) Guglielmus, Gulielmus, Guilhelmus, Gulielmo, or Gulielmum (yup, all those indicate William in Latin) and Anna. It can get even more confusing when Latinate suffixes have been used to create the genitive tense (used to show relationships) for the person(s) in the record. For instance, Guglielmus would become Guglielmi to signify the father. and Anna becomes Annae for the mother. So now, instead of looking for Frank son of William and Anne, I'm looking for Franciscus filius Guglielmi (or any one of the many other possible forms of William) and Annae. It's not rocket science, but it can take a bit of dilligence.
After struggling repeatedly with these types of records, I found a listing of Latin names on Family Tree Forum. It's certainly not all inclusive, but it is simply organized and searching (using Ctrl+F) within the page works quite well. Rules for the different genitive forms based on father, mother, bride of, etc are included. There are plenty of sites out there to assist with Latin translations, but this list of names is simple and straightforward. Thus far, it's been sufficient to meet my research needs.
Next time you run into onomastic Latinisation, you'll eiher have a handy reference...or you'll be able to win at Trivial Pursuit (if there's a quesiton about a dead language used to convolute common names beyond all recognition in church records). Either way, I've added a section for Names in my Genealogy Toolbox (and moved a few existing links to this section to make them easier to find). Enjoy!
