This was posted on my family's genealogical website. I'm not sure where it originated but it is pretty funny:


THE 13 COMMANDMENTS FOR NAMES:

1. Thou shalt name your male children James, John, Joseph, Josiah, Abel, Richard, Thomas, or William,
2. Thou shalt name your female children Elizabeth, Mary, Martha, Maria, Sarah, Ida, Virginia, May,
3. Thou shalt leave NO trace of your female children,
4. Thou shalt, after naming your children from the above lists, call them by strange nicknames such as Ike, Eli, Polly, Dolly, Sukey---making them difficult to trace,
5. Thou shalt NOT use any middle names on any legal documents or census reports, and only where necessary, you may use only initials on legal documents,
6. Thou shalt learn to sign all documents illegibly so that your surname can be spelled, or misspelled, in various ways: Hicks, Hix, Hixe, Hucks, Kicks, Nicks,
7. Thou shalt, after no more than 3 generations, make sure that all family records are lost, misplaced, burned in a court house fire, or buried so that NO future trace of them can be found,
8. Thou shalt propagate misleading legends, rumors, and vague innuendo regarding your place of origin,

A. You may have come from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales...or Iran,
B. You may have American Indian ancestory of the______tribe,
C- You may have descended from one of the three brothers that came over from ____,

9. Thou shalt leave NO cemetery records, or headstones with legible names,
10. Thou shalt leave NO family Bible with records of births marriages, or deaths,
11. Thou shalt ALWAYS flip thy name around. If James Albert, thou must make all of thy records in the names of Albert, A.J., J.A., Al, Bert, Bart, or Alfred,
12. Thou must also flip thy parents names when making reference to them, although 'Unknown" or a blank line is an acceptable alternative,
13. Thou shalt name at least 5 generations of males, and dozens of their cozens with identical names, in order to totally confuse searchers.

MSYCEGWELFY = Make Sure You Confound Every Genealogist Who Ever Looks For You.


Best

AA