How TamizhConnect Works – From Names to Verified Tamil Trees

TamizhConnect is a Tamil-specific family tree platform and social network.

Instead of asking you to type every date and document perfectly, it works the way Tamil families actually remember things: through names, villages, relationships, migration stories, and fragments of memory.

This page explains, step by step, what happens inside TamizhConnect when you build a tree.

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1. Start with the fragments you already know

Most Tamil families do not start with a complete record set.
They start with things like:

• "Appa's initials were R. K., from a village near Thanjavur."
• "Periappa went to Dubai first and later settled in London."
• "Paati's name had 'Kamatchi' in it, but on the passport it's different."

TamizhConnect is designed for this reality.

You add:

• Basic person profiles:
  • Names (Tamil and/or English)
  • Initials / patronymics
  • Relationships (appa / amma / thatha / paatti / periappa / athai...)
• Rough dates:
  • Year or decade ranges are enough to start
• Places:
  • Native place, town/city, diaspora country
• Notes:
  • "Worked in Kuwait"
  • "Married into a Colombo family"
  • "Moved to Toronto in the 1990s"

You don't need perfect data. You just need honest fragments.

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2. The cultural inference engine reads those fragments

Once you begin adding people and relationships, TamizhConnect's cultural inference engine goes to work in the background.

2.1 Tamil naming logic

TamizhConnect is tuned for Tamil patterns, such as:

• Patronymics
  • Father's name as an initial (R. Kumar "Kumar, child of R...")
• Village / locality initials
  • A place becoming part of the name
• Caste / community titles (where present)
• Foreigner / passport versions of names

The engine uses this logic to:

• Recognise that S. Kumar, K. S. Kumar, and Kumar Subramaniam
  might be the same person in different contexts.
• Understand that K. R. Meenakshi is probably related to R. Krishnan in the previous generation.
• See that multiple people from the same oor + decade + initials are likely part of the same extended branch.

It does not overwrite your decisions. It suggests patterns and possible matches for you to review.

2.2 Place and migration patterns

The engine also looks at:

• Origin villages and districts
• Intermediate cities (Chennai, Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, etc.)
• Destination countries (UK, Canada, Malaysia, Gulf, Australia...)

From this, it can:

• Propose migration flows for each branch of the family
• Suggest when a move probably happened (e.g. between two children's birth years)
• Build an internal timeline of "life stages" for a family line

Again, you stay in control. These are assistive patterns, not automatic edits.

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3. Public records add "hints", not final answers

Where legally permitted (for example, with certain electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu/India),
TamizhConnect can look at public records to create hints.

Typical hints include:

• A possible match for a person in a voter list for a given year
• An address that matches your family's known village or town
• Approximate age range based on when someone appears in the roll

Important:

• TamizhConnect treats these records as clues, not unquestionable truth.
• Every hint is labelled and can be opened to see why it was suggested.
• You decide whether a hint should be:
  • Accepted into the tree
  • Ignored as a mismatch
  • Left pending while you talk to family elders

This keeps the tree evidence-aware, without forcing one source to dominate.

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4. You review and confirm every important change

Nothing goes into your tree without your approval.

For each suggestion, you see:

• The person it refers to
• The name and place context
• The underlying record or pattern that generated the hint

You then choose:

• Accept - merge or attach the information to the person/profile
• Ignore - hide the hint if it is clearly wrong
• Ask later - note it down and return after speaking to elders

This human-in-the-loop process means:

• The AI helps you notice possibilities
• But the family remains the final authority over its own story

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5. TamizhConnect builds a visual tree and migration map

As you add people and accept or reject hints, TamizhConnect turns your data into:

5.1 A structured family tree

Each person has:

• Names and name variants (Tamil, English, initials)
• Relationships (parent, child, spouse, sibling, in-law, etc.)
• Places and dates (where known or estimated)
• Notes, stories, and media attachments (photos, documents, voice notes)

This powers:

• Tree views - classic family tree diagrams
• Branch views - focus on one line (e.g. "Thanjavur Chennai branch")
• Person views - timeline of one person's life and relationships

5.2 Migration and origin views

From your places and rough years, TamizhConnect builds:

• Maps of origin villages and towns
• Migration paths for each branch (e.g. "Jaffna Colombo Toronto")
• Timeline-style views that make it easy to show younger relatives:

"This is where we started,
this is where different branches moved,
this is how we ended up here."

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6. Collaboration with family: roles and invites

Family history only works if family can participate.
TamizhConnect lets you invite relatives with clear access levels.

6.1 Invite flow

1. You open your tree and click Invite.
2. You choose:
   • Email / username, or
   • Link / QR (depending on your plan)
3. You assign a role:
   • Guest
   • Contributor
   • Editor
4. You send the invite.
   When they accept, your tree appears in their account with those permissions.

6.2 What each role can do

• Guest

  • Can view the tree and add comments
  • Cannot edit, add, or delete content

• Contributor

  • Can view the tree
  • Can add new people, photos, and stories
  • Cannot edit or remove existing content created by others

• Editor

  • Full control: add, edit, remove content
  • Can manage other users' permissions
  • Suitable only for highly trusted relatives

You can change or revoke someone's access at any time.

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7. Privacy, security, and living people protection

TamizhConnect is built on a simple principle:
families own their stories, not platforms.

7.1 Privacy by default

• Trees are private by default.
  No one can view your tree unless you invite them.
• Details about living people are automatically restricted.
• You decide how much of a living person's information is visible to different collaborators.

7.2 Technical protections

• All connections use modern HTTPS/TLS encryption.
• Data is stored on secure, access-controlled infrastructure.
• TamizhConnect does not sell personal data to third parties.

You remain in charge of:

• Who can see your family tree
• Who can edit it
• When someone should be removed

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8. What you actually get out of it

When you use TamizhConnect properly, you end up with:

• A Tamil-aware family tree that doesn't break when names and scripts change
• A map of origin villages and diaspora routes, understandable even to children
• A shared space where relatives can add stories, photos, and corrections
• A living record that can grow with each generation

Most importantly, it becomes easier to answer questions like:

• "Who were we before we came here?"
• "Which oor are we really from?"
• "How are we related to that family in Canada / Malaysia / the Gulf?"

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9. Where to go next

If you want a step-by-step, practical guide, see:

• How to use TamizhConnect - start from sign-up and first tree
• Selected blog posts:
  • Trace your Tamil ancestry
  • Discover your origin village
  • Collect family history from elders

For more information about our services, you can also visit our pricing information or contact us with any questions.

Together, these show you not just what TamizhConnect is, but exactly how it works for real Tamil families spread across the world.