Von: tmangos@ARSERRC.Gov (TMANGOS)
  Datum: 25.03.98, 13:22:43
Betreff: Re: BADEN-WURTTEMBERG-D Digest V98 #82

>Hi,
>First, thanks to those of you who replied re: Veith/veit family.  I am
>still curious about when Baden-Baden received it's double name to
>distinquish it from Baden itself.
>Thanks for any help on this.
>
>Barb Keene


Answers

I don't know when the name Baden-Baden with the "dash" appeared first. To my
knowledge there are 3 possible explanations why it says Baden-Baden.

Baden-Baden received its name to distinguish it from Baden-Durlach. The
Markgrafschaft Baden was divided into 2 parts till around 1760, a catholic part
with its capital Baden (Baden in Baden) and a protestant part with its capital
in Durlach or Karlsruhe (Baden Durlach). After the reunification the capital
was Mannheim.

Another explanation is that Baden-Baden is the short form of "Baden, Amt Baden"
- a postal necessity, because there were 2 other cities of Baden in Europe,
Baden in Switzerland and Baden in Austria. I found a letter in my Grandma's
drawer several years ago written by William Jost in St. Louis in 1896 addressed
to his cousin Johann Jost in Baden. The address just said "Johann Jost, Baden,
Amt Baden". He didn't even write Germany or Deutschland.

The 3rd explanation.
Baden-Baden is a famous health-resort with a hot spring. All health resorts in
Germany are allowed to carry the prefix "Bad" (= Bath), ie. Bad Mergentheim,
Bad Teinach, etc. May be "Bad Baden" just didn't sound well enough, so they
named it Baden-Baden. This must have been around 1870, when the health tourism
started in Germany. Kaisers and Kings visited Baden-Baden year after year,
Dostojewski lived there, etc.

I, personally, think that the 3rd explanation is the correct one.