Recruit Relatives to Help You Research Family Names

You’d love to use a family name for your baby, but you’re not having much luck. Most of the family names you know are already in use. The rest are names you simply don’t care for. You’d like to broaden your search by building a family tree, but just don’t have the time.

If this sounds like you, first of all: don’t give up! Family names are worth the effort.

Check out sites like Geni, Famiva and Tribal Pages–family history sites with social networking capabilities. They allow multiple users to collaborate on a single family tree. Just sign up, start a tree, and invite family members to join and contribute.

You may not have time to hunt for your ancestors right now, but relatives who do have time may welcome the challenge and dive right in. (Genealogical research can be addictive. Trust me.)