Like any pursuit, genealogy has its share of acronyms and abbreviations for prominent organizations, go-to resources, and often-used terms. You’ll find some of them scrawled on records, while others are terms you may see at conferences or on message boards.
Need help with the alphabet soup? This guide to common genealogy abbreviations and acronyms will help you decipher all those terms. We’ve included special pronunciations where necessary.
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Record Abbreviations
A
abr.: abridged, abridgement
abs. or abst.: abstract
acc.: according to; account; accompanied/accompanied by
adm. or admin.: administrator, administration
aka: also known as
als.: alias
anc.: ancestor
appx.: appendix
B
B (uppercase): Black, indicating race
b. (lowercase): born
bp. or bpt.: baptized; birthplace
bu. or bur.: buried
C
c. or cir.: circa
cem.: cemetery
CH: courthouse
ch.: children; church; chaplain
chr.: christened (baptized)
conf.: confirmed
CW: Civil War
D
d.: died
decd. or dec’d: deceased
div.: divorced
E
ED: enumeration district, a geographical division defined for a US census
F
FR: family register
G
gdn. or grdn.: guardian
I
inf.: infantry
inhab.: inhabitant, inhabited
J
jud.: judicial
junr.: junior
L
lic.: license
liv.: living
M
m. or md.: married
mil.: military
mo.: month
N
na.: naturalized
n.d.: no date; not dead
nm: never married
O
obit.: obituary
OS: “Old Style” calendar
P
p.o.a.: power of attorney
pr.: proved; probated
p.r.: parish register
R
RC: Roman Catholic
reg.: register
res.: residence; research
ret.: retired
S
s.: son
s. & h.: son and heir
s/o: son of
srnm.: surname
T
T. or twp.: township
U
unk.: unknown
unm.: unmarried
Genealogy Industry Abbreviations and Acronyms
A
AAGG: African-American Genealogy Group
AAHGS: Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society
ACPL: Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Ind.
AGBI: American Genealogical-Biographical Index
AAD: Access to Archival Databases (part of NARA’s website)
AG: Accredited Genealogist, a professional credential conferred by ICAPGen
AIC: American Institute for Conservation
APG: Association of Professional Genealogists
ARC (defunct): Archival Research Catalog, now the National Archives Catalog (part of NARA’s website)
atDNA: autosomal DNA, the type of DNA that is frequently used in genetic genealogy testing
B
BCG: Board for Certification of Genealogists
C
CG: Certified Genealogist, a professional credential conferred by the BCG
CGL: Certified Genealogical Lecturer, a professional credential conferred by the BCG
CMSR: Compiled Military Service Record
CWSS: Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System
D
DAR: Daughters of the American Revolution (also NSDAR: National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution)
F
FEEFHS (“feef-us”): Foundation for East European Family History Societies
FGS (defunct): Federation of Genealogical Societies (merged with NGS in 2020)
FHC: Family History Center, a branch of the Family History Library
FHL: Family History Library in Salt Lake City
FHLC (mostly defunct): FHL Catalog, now the FamilySearch Catalog
FOIA: Freedom of Information Act
FTM: Family Tree Maker genealogy software
G
GAR: Grand Army of the Republic, a network of organizations for Civil War Union veterans
GEDCOM (“jed-com”): Genealogical Data Communication, the computer file format for family tree data (.ged is the extension for these files)
GLO: Bureau of Land Management General Land Office
GPS: Genealogical Proof Standard, a set of best practices published by BCG
H
HQO: HeritageQuest Online genealogy databases, offered through many libraries
I
IAJGS: International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies
ICAPGen: (“eye-cap-jen”) International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists
IGI: The International Genealogical Index, curated by the FHL between 1973 and 2008 and now a collection on FamilySearch
ISOGG: International Society of Genetic Genealogy
L
M
MRCA: most recent common ancestor between two people, often DNA matches
mtDNA: mitochondrial DNA (a type of DNA that is used in genetic genealogy testing to research female-line ancestors)
N
NARA (“nar-uh”): National Archives and Records Administration
NEHGS (sometimes called “hiss-jen”): New England Historic Genealogical Society, also known as American Ancestors
NGS: National Genealogical Society
O
OR: The Civil War reference The War of the Rebellion: A compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
P
PAF (“paff”; defunct): Personal Ancestral File genealogy software, retired in 2013
PALAM (“pal-am”): Palatines to America
PERSI (“per-zee”): Periodical Source Index to family history articles in US and Canadian magazines and journals
R
RM: RootsMagic genealogy software
S
SAR (“sahr”): Sons of the American Revolution
SCGS: Southern California Genealogical Society
SGGEE (sometimes pronounced “squeegee”): Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe
SUVCW: Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
T
TMG (defunct): The Master Genealogist genealogy software, discontinued in 2014
W
WDYTYA?: The genealogy television series “Who Do You Think You Are?” (can refer to NBC’s/TLC’s US version or BBC’s British version)
WRHS: Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland
Y
Y-DNA: Y-chromosomal DNA (a type of DNA used in genetic genealogy testing to research male-line ancestors)
Versions of this article appeared in the November 2003 Trace Your Family History and The Family Tree Pocket Reference, 2nd edition (Family Tree Books).
Last updated: September 2022.
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