What was that one persons name?

Question

What was that one persons name?

Answer 1

One-name study

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A one-name study is a collection of vital and other biographical data about all persons worldwide sharing a particular surname. The raw data is extracted from national or published indexes. The one-name researcher seeks to identify all persons, living and dead, who have used the surname, and builds a database which keys the data from the different indexes to those individuals.

The skill required to make reliable judgments from such indexes without consulting the original archival documents is developed from long family history experience.

It is usual to include all spelling variants of the surname, unless there is clear evidence that a close spelling has a distinct geographic or family origin. A one-name study is not limited to persons who are related biologically, but also embraces those who acquire the surname by marriage or adoption or through slavery.

Findings from a one-name study are useful to genealogists, who burrow deeper than indexes, consulting the historical sources so as to write pedigrees or descendancy charts of single families that are usually subsets of the surname group. Onomasticians, who study the etymology, meaning and geographic origin of names, also draw on the macro perspective provided by a one-name study.

Answer 2

Logically Watson, his or her name must have been - Smith, John or Jane.