Every-Name Indexes

In book indexing, we normally treat names and subjects similarly in terms of looking for significant mentions as opposed to automatically including all mentions of either category of terms. But if we do get a request from a client for every mention of a term, that request is normally focused on names. And not just people’s names, either.

Types of Name Indexes

• All personal names
• All personal and organizational names
• All names treated as subject (not cited authors)
• All organizational names
• All cited authors
• Contemporaries of the book’s author, but not necessarily historical authors
• All names in all categories (people, organizations, places, etc.—you’ll often see requests for separate indexes for these different categories)

Specs Prep for Name Index(es)

As you can see from all the options, it’s important to coordinate expectations for name indexes with your client before you start building the index(es). Authors and editors often have different ideas about what a name index should include. Authors are famous for assuming that every name will be included when the default is to only include significant mentions in the main text and substantive notes. Making a note in your emails with authors prior to starting the project will help manage these expectations.

When your client really needs an every-name index in any one of the categories listed, make sure those instructions are clear. Ask about full names versus initials for cited authors. Sometimes there will be discrepancies between references/bibliography and text mentions. Some clients want consistency regardless and will go for first initials only if any cited authors are listed that way, and some will go with the fullest version of the name available. Be sure to ask.

Also ask about subentries. You will hopefully be able to make index subentries for names with more than 8 to 10 locators (page numbers), but the client may not want any subentries for names. Again, be sure to ask.

Where to Get the Names

After the type of name index has been determined, there is one more decision to make regarding the number entries for each name: where to take the names from in the book:

• All mentions of the name in both text and footnotes
• Entering footnote names only if the name is not in the text on the page. So if the name appears in the text on a page and is also mentioned in one or more footnotes on that page, then only the page number is entered in the index (not the page number plus note number).
• For books that use endnotes, then all names in text and endnotes are indexed.

Dealing with Name Discrepancies

If you see a disagreement between the bibliography or references and text or footnotes/endnotes regarding the spelling of a name, the bibliography is usually used as the gold standard. Report discrepancies in a list sent with the index along with any errors you found in the text. One of the nice proofreading extras that the index can provide is to easily identify name discrepancies that might be scattered in the text.

Keep in mind that every-name indexes are not necessarily easy just because you don’t have to do subject analysis; they are often an interesting challenge in themselves.