Author sort "Mac/Mc"

paulrw · 09-18-2021, 12:53 PM

I had managed to get Calibre to sort Mac and Mc together (i.e. McDonald next to Macdonald), but noticed today that I had a number of books which aren't displaying in that order, and now I have completely forgotten how I did it. The individual author sort fields were what you would expect in both the "correct" and "incorrect" cases, that is they showed the sort surname the same as the author surname, so I tried a complete "recalculate all author sort values" which destroyed all the existing "correct" sort. I have searched the forum, but unfortunately I can't find a search term that does result in several hundred hits, so I am hoping that someone will be able to point me in the right direction.

Quoth · 09-20-2021, 11:27 AM

Also up till the 1930s mac, Mac and Mc was often M’. I’ve ebooks and paper books where Scottish names are like that. Technically ap as prefix was originally map, the Welsh version of Scottish/Irish mac (son of ). O’ is descendant. See also female forms, nic and ui, I think.

I'd not try and sort Mac and Mc together. Also some names use a space for the prefix (which is more correct historically) and some don't. How do you spell and space a name? The way the holder of it insists.

chaley · 09-20-2021, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulrw

I had managed to get Calibre to sort Mac and Mc together (i.e. McDonald next to Macdonald), but noticed today that I had a number of books which aren't displaying in that order, and now I have completely forgotten how I did it.

I agree with Quoth, I wouldn't do it. It would drive me crazy to see the order MacArther, McDonald, MacDonald, McEwen.

But putting opinion aside, the way I would do it is to:

Pick a canonical prefix for McX, Mc X, MacX, and Mac X, for example McX
Right click on an author (any author) in the tag browser and choose Manage Authors.
Sort the list by Author Sort
Change each of the appropriate author sort values to use the canonical prefix.
Press OK

One problem with this scheme is that the author_sort value is no longer the correct spelling. If author_sort is ever used as the author name, and some devices do that, then you will see the wrong spelling.

paulrw · 09-26-2021, 11:16 AM

Thanks Chaley and Quoth, but I wasn't asking for advice on whether it was a good idea, I already know that. My point was that I know I had done it, I didn't change the individual author sort values, and as I vastly prefer it sorted like that, I would like to get it back that way.

chaley · 09-26-2021, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulrw

Thanks Chaley and Quoth, but I wasn't asking for advice on whether it was a good idea, I already know that. My point was that I know I had done it, I didn't change the individual author sort values, and as I vastly prefer it sorted like that, I would like to get it back that way.

It isn't possible to change how calibre sorts authors without changing author_sort, either globally for an author or on a book-by-book basis.

09-18-2021, 12:53 PM	#1
paulrw Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Liverpool, England Device: Kindle keyboard, Kindle Oasis, iPhone, iPad, PC	Author sort "Mac/Mc" I had managed to get Calibre to sort Mac and Mc together (i.e. McDonald next to Macdonald), but noticed today that I had a number of books which aren't displaying in that order, and now I have completely forgotten how I did it. The individual author sort fields were what you would expect in both the "correct" and "incorrect" cases, that is they showed the sort surname the same as the author surname, so I tried a complete "recalculate all author sort values" which destroyed all the existing "correct" sort. I have searched the forum, but unfortunately I can't find a search term that does result in several hundred hits, so I am hoping that someone will be able to point me in the right direction.

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09-20-2021, 11:27 AM	#2
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,031 Karma: 105092227 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Also up till the 1930s mac, Mac and Mc was often M’. I’ve ebooks and paper books where Scottish names are like that. Technically ap as prefix was originally map, the Welsh version of Scottish/Irish mac (son of ). O’ is descendant. See also female forms, nic and ui, I think. I'd not try and sort Mac and Mc together. Also some names use a space for the prefix (which is more correct historically) and some don't. How do you spell and space a name? The way the holder of it insists.

09-26-2021, 11:16 AM	#4
paulrw Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Liverpool, England Device: Kindle keyboard, Kindle Oasis, iPhone, iPad, PC	Thanks Chaley and Quoth, but I wasn't asking for advice on whether it was a good idea, I already know that. My point was that I know I had done it, I didn't change the individual author sort values, and as I vastly prefer it sorted like that, I would like to get it back that way.