Von: carlah@earthlink.net (Carla)
  Datum: 24.11.98, 23:42:43
Betreff: "Odd" Seeming Names for Germans?

Dear Baden-Wuerttemberg List Friends,

Several posts have recently addressed finding what appear to be "odd"
names for German ancestors in  records.  By "odd," I mean certain given
names that seem ethnically out of place, and apparently don't meet our
expectations of appropriate German names.  One reason for such seeming
incongruity of names can be the religion of the ancestors in question.

Especially when researching ancestors who were Roman Catholic, keep in
mind that many Catholic families named their children after a saint or
important religious figure in Catholic theology.  Though there are
differences in the way names are rendered between languges (such as the
German "Johann" and the English "John,") you will often notice that
names common to Roman Catholics appear in many countries. This is one
reason the outwardly Irish name "Kilian," for example, is also found in
Germany and elsewhere.

Things can get even more interesting when a child of one ethnicity is
baptized with the name of a saint who was of a distinctly *different*
ethnicity.  I have an ethnically German ancestor who is identified in a
German-language (not Latin) church register entry as "Francisco Borgia
HENN."  It threw me for a loop until I discovered that there was a Roman
Catholic saint by the name of Francisco Borgia---who was Spanish!  My
ancestor was not baptized with the basic German version of "Franz," but
with the full, Spanish, first-and last-name version, "Francisco Borgia,"
with his own family surnamed tacked on at the end.

For those who are researching Catholic ancestors, a helpful site which
presents a list of saints' names and background on each saint's life can
be found at:

http://catholic.org/saints/stsindex.html

Hope this minor point is helpful in easing some naming mysteries.
Always be prepared for a surprise! <g>

Warmest wishes,
Carla HELLER
Los Angeles