How to translate historical names which don't necessarily have an equivalent in Japanese?

Question

What is the acceptable procedure for writing proper names in Japanese academic papers when you don't know the official Japanese translation or the katakana for it?

Is there an expectation that all references to proper names must adhere to the official translation when mentioned in an academic conference paper presentation, journal article, and/or doctoral thesis? Or is it acceptable to create your own translation or make your own guess as to the katakana if you cannot easily find a source for the official one? Is it considered unprofessional and looked down upon to do this?

• For writing an academic paper, is there an official translation of the name of the The Biological Laboratory of the U.S. Fish Commission which existed in Woods Hole (ウッズホール), Massachusetts in the mid-19th century (not sure if it still exists today) or can I myself translate that as 「米国水産生物学実験所」? It seems to be part of 合衆国水産委員会, but there are more than one famous marine science institutions in Woods Hole.
• Is there an official spelling of Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz's name (co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College)? The name Cabot seems to have a variety of pronunciations so I don't know what to use to write her name in katakana.
• Is there an official spelling of the surname Worcester? I found ウスター is the name for the city name that has that spelling but that ウォーセスター could be a spelling for the surname.

What is the customary way to deal with these questions while writing an academic paper when you don't have time to hunt down an official source, especially when the proper name may be of a historical entity that had an official Japanese translation in the past but which no longer exists?

Answer 1

1. In Japanese I think the best translation would be 「米国水産委員会の臨海実験所」 because the equivalent field in Japan would be Marine Biology.
2. 「エリザベス・キャボット・アガシーズ 」is the official Japanese spelling for her name.
3. For example, the US lexicographer Joseph Emerson Worcester in Japanese is translated to 「ジョゼフ・エマーソン・ウースター」. So I would use 「ウースター」 rather than 「ウスター」 for names.

Answer 2

Because technically there are no official katakana representations of names, because of their difficulties in pronunciation, it is usually let up to the most common translation or interpretation. Different people interpret the sounds differently and therefore translate differently, if you are good at recognizing sound differences then you can try to do the translation yourself. Many names even 'Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz' can be translated by piece, [エリザベス] [カボット] [アガシー]. While the pronunciations may produce different katakana, they are all imperfect. In regards to [ウスター] and [ウォーセスター] the first is an older style and the second is a newer style, if you want the closest possible pronunciation you would go with the second but both work fine. Good luck.