Common Terms and Abbreviations You'll Find in Canadian Genealogical Records

Historical records come with their own vocabulary, and a lot of early confusion in genealogical research comes down to simply not recognizing a term rather than any real gap in the record itself. Here's a working glossary of terms that show up often enough to be worth knowing in advance.

b. , born, or in church records, sometimes short for baptizatus (baptized in Latin)

bp. or bap. , baptized

d. , died

m. , married

bur. or sep. , buried (sepultus in Latin church records)

abt. , about, used when a date is approximate rather than confirmed

do. or a ditto mark (″) , “the same as above,” commonly used in tabular records like census returns to avoid repeating a surname or place name line after line

wid. , widow or widower

sp. or spinster , an unmarried woman, a term used in many historical marriage records regardless of age

issue , children of a marriage; “d.s.p.” (decessit sine prole) means the person died without children

next of kin , the closest living relative, a term that shows up frequently in probate and estate records

consort , a term occasionally used on older gravestones and in some records to refer to a wife, particularly one who predeceased her husband

relict , an older term for a widow, sometimes seen on headstones (“relict of [husband's name]”)

issue of previous marriage , a phrase indicating a stepchild or child from an earlier union, useful for untangling blended families

natural child or illegitimate , terminology historically used for a child born outside marriage; the language itself is dated, but recognizing it helps identify records that might otherwise seem contradictory

née , "born as"; used to indicate a married woman's maiden surname.

Recognizing these terms won't solve every mystery in a difficult record, but it removes one common source of confusion, letting you focus your attention on the parts of a document that genuinely require more digging.