Make the claim small enough to check

A name page often bundles several questions: spelling, lexical meaning, origin and the reason a person was given it. Our editorial method separates them. The digital Platts dictionary supplies an identifiable lexical reference with its own title, edition and search options; citing such a work does not itself document a particular family’s naming intention.[1]

The University of Chicago identifies Platts’s dictionary as a London publication of 1884 and separately dates the digital data update to June 2024. Preserve both kinds of context. A recently updated search interface can provide access to an older text without making its original scholarship contemporary or answering a new question about an individual name bearer.[1]

An edition is part of the evidence

The University of Chicago’s Digital Dictionaries of South Asia identifies Maya Singh’s Panjabi dictionary as a Lahore publication of 1895. That bibliographic context matters. A historical dictionary is evidence from a particular lexicographic project and period; it should not be presented as a current census of name usage or as a direct account of every speaker’s understanding.[2]

Its record also distinguishes the original publication from the date when the digital data was updated. Keep those dates separate in your citation. Digitisation can make an older reference searchable, but a recent website update does not turn the original book into a newly researched edition or resolve every limitation of the underlying work.[2]

Search carefully, then preserve the uncertainty

DDSA’s search guidance distinguishes entry-word searches from searches across definitions and other text. It offers exact, beginning, ending and containing matches. A result somewhere inside a dictionary is not automatically the headword you sought. Check the full entry and keep the spelling or transliteration actually used by the reference.[3]

For a responsible name record, retain the complete source citation, the headword and a short explanation of what the evidence establishes. Then list the unresolved questions separately. If no reliable whole-name account has been located, leave the meaning unestablished. This is an editorial recommendation, rather than a promise that a dictionary lookup can answer every naming question.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. John T. Platts; University of Chicago digital edition. A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English ↗digital dictionary record · Source date: 1884 original; digital data updated June 2024 · Locator: Search interface and bibliographic footer: London, 1884; digital data update June 2024. Accessed 2026-11-04.Inspected interface and bibliographic statement; no uninspected lexical entry claimed.Return to Make the claim small enough to check, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Make the claim small enough to check, paragraph 2 ↑
  2. Maya Singh; digital edition hosted by University of Chicago. The Panjabi Dictionary ↗digital dictionary record · Source date: 1895 original; digital data updated August 2022 · Locator: Bibliographic footer: Lahore, Munshi Gulab Singh & Sons, 1895; digital update August 2022. Accessed 2026-11-04.Inspected original publication and digital update dates; no uninspected word entry cited.Return to An edition is part of the evidence, paragraph 1 ↑Return to An edition is part of the evidence, paragraph 2 ↑
  3. University of Chicago. Digital Dictionaries of South Asia: Search Tips ↗research guidance · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Looking up a word; Advanced search options. Accessed 2026-10-31.Inspected search distinctions and options.Return to Search carefully, then preserve the uncertainty, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Search carefully, then preserve the uncertainty, paragraph 2 ↑
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Record PH-JOU-0009 · English edition · human review not performed