About the Latvian Record Project

What is the Latvian Record Project?

The Latvian Record Project is a growing online index to Latvian records. Doing Latvian genealogical research can seem daunting to many beginners, especially those who do not speak Latvian, and creating these indexes is intended to make research easier and records more accessible.

What kind of records can I expect to find indexed?

Eventually, I hope to have the Project encompass religious records, census records, civil parish registers and revision lists. But this is only the beginning, and right now the only records available are Lutheran church records.

Are entire records transcribed?

No. The indexes here are just guides. Currenly the only indexes available are for birth/baptism records, and the information transcribed consists of: Year, congregation, record number, farm name, full name of child, gender, father's name, mother's name and maiden name. The full record usually also includes birth and baptism dates and names of godparents/witnesses.

Where can I view the original records?

Those can be viewed on the Latvian State Historical Archives' genealogical website Raduraksti. Registration (free) is required.

What language are the records transcribed in?

A mixed format, but different from the originals. The original records are usually in German or Russian. In transcribing, names of people are written as closely as possible to the original record, while inserting modern Latvian orthography as needed to make the names recognizable to people searching based on modern surname spellings. However, since I am not familiar with every surname out there, sometimes transcriptions will be according to German or Russian orthographies. A basic German orthography conversion guide can be found below. Farm names are written in German or Russian, since it would take a lot of additional time to scan through maps and locate the Latvian names for these places. All Russian is transliterated from Cyrillic to Latin characters.

What does the "g" next to some numbers mean?

That means the record in question comes from the German congregation, rather than the Latvian one.

Why are farm names sometimes not recorded?

Some parishes didn't record this information for certain events (particularly marriages). As well, sometimes recordkeepers forget to write in the information, or they may not have known it.

I am interested in seeing an index for parish X! When will it be available?

The parishes I am currently working on: Suntaži, Lēdurga and Limbaži, backwards from 1905 to 1890. I will take suggestions for the next parishes, but each parish I will start with the most recent year (usually 1905).

I want to help!

Fabulous! This is a monumental task that I'm happy to share with others. If you would like to help, please leave a comment on my blog and I will get back to you with guidelines.

I have a correction to make!

Corrections are welcome, please leave any corrections or suggestions as a comment on my blog.

Orthography Conversion Guide

• German "S" can be Latvian "S", "Š" or "Z".
• German "Sch" can be Latvian "Š".
• German "Tsch" can be Latvian "Č".
• German vowel+h can be a long Latvian vowel "Ā", "Ē", "Ī", "Ū".
• German "W" can be Latvian "V".
• German "Z" can be Latvian "C" or "Z".

A full guide on Latvian surname orthography, along with common transliterations to Russian and German, will be available on the Surnames portion of this website in the near future.

Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this database, no content is guaranteed. Content is subject to change without notice to reflect new, updated and/or corrected information. The Latvian Record Project will not be held liable for any consequences of the use of or reliance on this material. It is intended to serve as a guide only, you should always consult primary documents for verification.