Tika & Names (Specifically Hers)

When this 2-pound baby came into our lives in September 2008 it took no time at all to come up with her name:  Tika.  I have no idea why I chose that name; it just "came to me."

Why do we choose the baby names we do?  Way long ago they used the family Bible. Yesterday they used a baby names book. Today we use the Internet.

According to www.howmanyofme.com ............. there is "less than 1 person" in the U.S. with the first name of Tika.

According to www.meaning-of-names.com ............. there was no "Tika" but Nitika means angel of precious stone or from India, Gitika means a summer song and also from India, Jyotika means a light flame.

According to www.babynames.net...... no Tika but this site says Nitika means morality.

And according to Kabalarian Philosophy (www.kalabarians.com)..... Tika stand for:

Your first name of Tika has given you energy, drive, and ambition, but also an almost excessively strong-willed and independent nature.

Well! My little dachshund is certainly full of energy and certainly is strong-willed !!

Take a peek at some of your names. 

Tika & Freebies

Tika does like freebies......... especially when they are in the form of a cheese stick handed to her. And her favorite indoor toy is a well-mangled old gray hospital sock with which we play tug-of-war. Those are her kind of freebies.

But for genealogists, we like another kind of freebies. How about a free guide to Finding Ancestors on FamilySearch.org? Or any sort of free guide having to do with genealogy?

Click to www.familytreemagazine.com and you'll see the prominent link to their free downloadable books............. and go for it!  Enhance your education beginning today with freebies.

Tika would approve.

Free

A Free Download of Family Tree Templates to Organize and Share Your Genealogy

In this collection, we’ve provided two decorative family tree templates, a five-generation ancestor chart, a family group sheet designed for recording information about a nuclear family, and a useful relationship chart to help you deduce how a specific family member is related to you.

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Surnames: FREE Genealogy E-book on Surname Origins and Family Search Tips

This free e-book contains some of Family Tree Magazine’s best genealogy tips relating to family names, including articles on basic surname research strategies, tips for seeking ancestral maiden names, what your surname reveals about your ethnic heritage, how to refining Google surname searches, and what you can learn by understanding surname meanings.

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48 Ancestry.com Search Tips: Free E-book on the Biggest Genealogy Website

This free e-book contains some of Family Tree Magazine’s best genealogy tips relating to Ancestry.com searches, including articles on using the Ancestry.com Card Catalog, navigating immigration records, customizing your homepage and the advantages/disadvantages of public and private family trees.

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Jump into Genetic Genealogy: Use Genealogical DNA Testing to Solve Family Mysteries

This free e-book contains some of Family Tree Magazine’s best tips relating to genetic genealogy, including articles on debunking genetic genealogy misconceptions, tricks for using DNA to break through brick walls, and a resource roundup of tools to analyze your Y-DNA, Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Autosomal DNA  (atDNA) test results.

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- See more at: http://ftu.familytreemagazine.com/free/#sthash.7uMO8bhA.dpuf

Tika & Old (Unidentified) Photos

The mail came; in the pile was a letter from my second cousin, Carol, in Illinois. It was a fat envelope so I knew something good was inside. I settled down on the deck with Tika in my lap as always.  I opened the letter and was both very excited and very disappointed.

It happened again.

People sharing family photos without identifying who the folks are.

Carol knew who they were because they were relatives living nearby in Illinois. I had only a guess as to who they were. I only met these more-distant relatives once back about 30 years ago.

So what to do? Send them back and ask for IDs? Scan them in and send that and ask for IDs?

I chose the easiest thing. I emailed Carol with a description of who they were ("tousled gray hair in a green shirt") in hopes that she will remember............ or have similar photos.

Certainly these photos can and will be identified. But it surely would have been easier had Carol numbered them and made a name list of who they were. (Notice I did NOT say write on the back of the photo.)

I explained all this out loud to Tika and she gave a big sigh and rested her chin on the chair. That was her way of saying, "Yes, too bad."

We can ALL learn from this:  do not send family photos to family without identification. It surely does matter.