Daily Ancestorb.
B. most often means "born" in a genealogy, as in b. 1784, though older English records also use it for baptized or buried.
In family trees, printed genealogies and modern abstracts, b. is the standard short form of born, followed by a date or place.
In older English parish material it can be ambiguous. Abbreviation lists give b. for birth, baptism, burial and even bachelor, so look at how the same writer abbreviates other events before deciding which one is meant. A baptism date is not a birth date, and a burial is not a death date.
As seen in a recordLine in a printed family genealogy
Wm. Lacy, b. 12 Mar. 1784, Va.
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "b.." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/b-born. Last checked 2026-10-01.