As I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently studying Applied Museum Studies. This means my internship needs to [...]]]> Sorry for my long absence, this last semester of classes has just been extremely time-consuming. But everything has been submitted, and there is only one component left to my program prior to graduation in the spring – completing my internship!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently studying Applied Museum Studies. This means my internship needs to take place at a museum or archives, anywhere in the world – and I’ll be heading to Latvia! I will be working at the Latvians Abroad Museum and Research Centre, an institution that I mentioned on my blog last year. This is an extremely exciting opportunity.

Since I’ll be in Latvia for four months, this also will provide me with plenty of time that I can spend doing genealogical research – for myself, or for you! Please stay tuned for a post on the variety of things that I could do for you while I’m there.

In the meantime, I have three weeks until I leave, and in that time I have a lot to accomplish:

1. Organize all of my notes so that I have a clear plan of attack for my personal research.
2. Scan the rest of the old family photographs that I have.
3. Update my long-neglected Latvian Surname Project – I’ve still been collecting names, but I haven’t had the time to add them to the site since starting my program. Soon, I promise! I have over 1000 names in my database, and more being added every day.
4. Make a lot of posts here!
5. And, if I have time, work out the roots of my Lūkins and Celmiņš families – these were both very large families in their respective parishes (Jaunate and Vijciems), based on what the revision lists tell me, so I need to work out who each of their progenitors were.

Well, off I go to start accomplishing this list!

The total name count is now 800, I added 200 new names including TRĪSTILTIŅŠ and PODNIEKS.

Today I am also launching a new project, the Latvian Farm Project. The goal of this project is to match old farm names to their pre-WW2 parishes, as well as begin a study on [...]]]> The Latvian Surname Project has been updated!

The total name count is now 800, I added 200 new names including TRĪSTILTIŅŠ and PODNIEKS.

Today I am also launching a new project, the Latvian Farm Project. The goal of this project is to match old farm names to their pre-WW2 parishes, as well as begin a study on farm naming practices. Eventually, I hope to tie this in with the Surname Project and the Record Project to create parish profiles and also come up with statistics of how often people may have chosen farm names as surnames. So far farms are listed for the parish of Ainaži.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a very special announcement!

I have added 80 new names, including MUITNIEKS and SALNA. I went to records in several different corners of Latvia for this one, so there are names from parishes such as Rucava in the west and Saliena in the east.

I’ve got a big push of indexed records to add, [...]]]> The Latvian Surname Project has been updated!

I have added 80 new names, including MUITNIEKS and SALNA. I went to records in several different corners of Latvia for this one, so there are names from parishes such as Rucava in the west and Saliena in the east.

I’ve got a big push of indexed records to add, but Raduraksti has been down all day so unfortunately I was not able to finish that one tonight for the Record Project. Hopefully it’ll be up tomorrow so I can complete the indexing that I wanted to finish before releasing it.

Two side projects in the works – stay tuned!

The Surname Project has 153 new names, including BĒRZLAPA and MIEŽUVĀRPA. That brings the total number of surnames in the project so far to 521!

I’m afraid I don’t have a Record Project update this time – life has gotten in the way. I’ve also had a bit of trouble [...]]]> The Latvian Surname Project has been updated!

The Surname Project has 153 new names, including BĒRZLAPA and MIEŽUVĀRPA. That brings the total number of surnames in the project so far to 521!

I’m afraid I don’t have a Record Project update this time – life has gotten in the way. I’ve also had a bit of trouble loading Raduraksti recently – has anyone else been having this problem?

I’ve been a bit quiet for the past week, but even though I’m starting a new job tomorrow, I’m hoping to be back in action with a bunch of interesting blog posts in the next weeks. Stay tuned!

The Surname Project has 100 new names, including KALĒJS and ZVEJNIEKS.

The Record Project has 368 new records in Limbaži marriages 1890-1899.

That’s all for this update! Updates will happen, on average, every ten days.

The Surname Project has 61 new names, including LAPSA and DZĒRVE.

The Record Project has 1075 new records, including Limbaži baptisms 1900-1905, Lēdurga baptisms 1900, Limbaži marriages 1900-1905, Lēdurga marriages 1900 and Suntaži marriages 1900-1905. For all records, Limbaži is missing 1904 and Suntaži is [...]]]> The Latvian Record Project and the Latvian Surname Project have been updated!

The Surname Project has 61 new names, including LAPSA and DZĒRVE.

The Record Project has 1075 new records, including Limbaži baptisms 1900-1905, Lēdurga baptisms 1900, Limbaži marriages 1900-1905, Lēdurga marriages 1900 and Suntaži marriages 1900-1905. For all records, Limbaži is missing 1904 and Suntaži is missing 1903. I’m not sure why those records are not available on “Raduraksti”. I guess those years just went missing at some point. There are also no Lēdurga records available after 1900.

I have some interesting blog posts coming up. This past week I’ve been busy getting this record/surname update done, so haven’t had as much time for regular blog posts. But they’re coming soon!

Today, I bring you the launch of the Latvian Surname Project!

The most common search term that brings people to my blog is “Latvian surnames”. Therefore, I thought starting a resource on Latvian surnames and their meanings could be helpful to a lot of people.

So far, there are [...]]]> Squeaking in for Surname Saturday (in somebody else’s timezone…)…

Today, I bring you the launch of the Latvian Surname Project!

The most common search term that brings people to my blog is “Latvian surnames”. Therefore, I thought starting a resource on Latvian surnames and their meanings could be helpful to a lot of people.

So far, there are only 207 names, but this is a work in progress, and new names will be uploaded regularly. If you have any submissions, do share them! Guidelines are on the main page.

Any questions or comments, do let me know! If you have any other ideas for answers I should add to the FAQs on the main page, please mention them too. I’m not an expert (yet), but since there is a lack of information out there on Latvian surnames, especially information accessible to people who don’t speak Latvian, I thought this could be a good way for me to help people looking to get a start on learning about their Latvian ancestors.

Have fun! More project launches and updates to come – stay tuned!