How do I customize the way names are displayed?

You can customize how you would like to see names displayed on Geni. These preferences apply to family trees, lists, and the rest of Geni. 

Please follow these steps to customize your name preferences:

1. Go to your Account Settings

2. Click Name Preferences

3. Here you may customize how you would like to see names displayed on Geni. You may choose from the options provided in the dropdown  to set your display preference for birth surnames. An example of how the name will be displayed is shown at the right. You may choose to apply your birth surname display preference everywhere on Geni or only in the tree. 

You may set your preference for general name display on the site. Simply check the boxes next to the display options you prefer.

You may also set your general name display to show custom profile facts, check the box "Show custom profile facts when viewing profile names."

Once the "Show custom profile facts when viewing profile names" has been checked, you may start typing the custom profile fact label into the box to create a new label or select from an existing fact label you have already created. Or you may click on the down triangle to see a list of custom profile facts that already appear on the profiles you follow. After selecting or creating a label, click the button "Add Label to Profile Names."

An example of how names will be displayed will appear below. You may further customize how these fact labels are displayed by filling in the "Prepend" and "Append" boxes. For example, if you would like to see Royal houses next to profile names, you may add the label "House." "House" will now appear in the example name above the labels list. If you would like to see this data within square brackets [ ], then you may add [ in the Prepend character box and ] in the Append character box. The example will show the profile name and [House] after it. 

You may add multiple custom profile facts to the name display and customize how each one will be displayed using the "Prepend" and "Append" character boxes. To reorder how the fact labels are displayed, simply click on the horizontal lines at the left and drag the label to your preferred order. (Be sure to save your changes after reordering the labels.) 

If you no longer wish to see a custom profile fact displayed with names, click on the x on the right for that label.

If you would like to remove a custom profile fact from the list of suggestions, you may click on the x to the right of the label. Note: Removing the label from the list will not delete any data from profiles using that label.

 

4. Once you have selected your display preferences, click "Save Changes."

Updated: March 7, 2025