Talk:Frederick T. Frelinghuysen

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[edit] Full name vs. truncated name

  • "Frederick T. Frelinghuysen" 699 Ghits
    • Google hits are often deceptive, especially since many of the 1540 hits are wikipedia clones and biographical reference articles which just happen to have the full name mentioned in the text, not necessarily the title (which should any biographical reference in its text). Common usage does not mean "most google hits." Read up on WP policies and guidelines, especially those regarding common usage and the proper consideration of "google hits" as a justification.
    • Reference works tend to use full names (as stated above) and as such are not entirely indicative of common usage, therefore discounted.
    • Personal signature in correspondence, on government documents, etc. was with a truncated middle initial, including its usage on his Rutgers College sheepskin and in several deeds which are still held amongst family members. This usage by the subject should trump most other considerations.
    • bioguide.congress.gov also lists "Peter Hood Ballantine Frelinghuysen" who just happened to be known more commonly as Peter H. B. Frelinghuysen similarly in signature, documents, etc. Also, the use of the middle name there is to differentiate him from Theodore Frelinghuysen and Frederick Frelinghuysen also listed.
Respectfully submitted, —ExplorerCDT 15:21, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
According to Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies), "Many cultures have a tradition of not using the full name of a person in everyday reference, but the article should start with the complete version", so the article should (as it does now) have the full name "Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen" bolded in the first sentence. The Manual of Style also states, "the article title should generally be the name by which the subject is most commonly known"; the problem here seems to be with the interpretation of "most commonly". Reading the above I would say on balance it's best to leave the article where it currently is (i.e. use "Frederick T. Frelinghuysen") – Gurch 19:32, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
FWIW, I've passed through a lot of 19th century U.S. politicians' articles lately (adding Mathew Brady photos), and have noticed a widespread convention of using the middle initial, rather than full name. But I would highly recommend making a redirect from Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen to Frederick T. Frelinghuysen (or vice versa if someone really prefers the full name in the end) - the wikimedia search engine is far from ideal, and it's sometimes hard to find the article if you happen to enter the "wrong" form of the name. --Davepape 04:13, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
And how can you objectively come up with a way to determine the "most common name" so that five people will all come up with the same answer? Your way is 100% subjective, seeing what other encyclopedias use is 100% objective, so why settle on the truncated name? --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 07:46, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Frelinghuysen Hall

Frelinghuysen Hall at Rutgers University was, in actuality, named for Theodorus Frelinghuysen, an important founder of the college, and not Frederick. See http://maps.rutgers.edu/building.aspx?id=140. I'm removing the reference. --165.230.133.90 04:05, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

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