Von: sgtgeorg@concentric.net (Sgt.George)
  Datum: 28.05.98, 00:21:56
Betreff: RE: Name order First Middle Last

Mark and the author of the quoted email are correct.  Having several
lines of ancestry back to German immigrants, I can attest that the
German practice was significantly different than what we now know
in the US.

In my BROYLES line, I have found that children were most often
given a "first" name the same as one of the parents.  Thus, Johannes'
sons were given a first name of Johannes, with middle names derived
from grandparents, uncles, etc.  Johannes' sons were named Johannes
Jacob (or Hans Jacob), Johannes Conrad (or Hans Conrad), etc.
The sons were known as Jacob, Conrad, etc.  It seems that the "first"
name was kind of like the surname, in that it was passed down through
the generations, and the offspring were officially known by their "middle"
names.  Of course, once they arrived in American, this naming practice
soon faded out as they came in contact with other cultures wherein the
offspring were usually known by the "first" name.

In fact, if one digs hard enough, he/she is likely to find out that the names
the ancestors were known by, and that were recorded in official documents,
were actually "middle" names, with the "first" name never being mentioned.
Often the only way to discover these "first" names is to be lucky enough
to find family documents, such as bibles, etc.  For years all us BROYLES
researchers knew my g-g-g-g-grandfather as Jacob and his father as Jacob
also.  It wasn't until we found additional documentation that we discovered
that the father was actually Hans (a shortened form of Johannes) Jacob,
and the son was really Jacob.  Seems that by the second generation after
immigration, the family had already dropped the "first" name convention.
So, instead of calling them Jacob 1 and Jacob 2, as we did in the early
days, we now call them Hans Jacob and Jacob to differentiate the two.

I guess the lesson here is, when dealing with ancestors from Germany,
we should always be alert for the possibility that in some records,
especially in Germany, that they may be known by a different "first" name
than the one we know them by in the US.

SgtGeorge



At 07:22 AM 5/26/98 -0400, Mark Haller wrote:

>Hi Donald, I am German and live here in the US and translate many
>genealogical documents for clients.  Kunigunde was indeed a good 'Southern'
>name for a girl a few decades ago.  German children are often given two or
>three first names, most often the names of their godparents, not their
>parents.  They usually are called by their second name, as Anna Kunigunde
>would be known as Kunigunde or perhaps Gundl for short.   In America our
>'first' name is the one that comes first, but in Germany it is usually the
>second or middle one you are known by.   Elke