Problems Associated with First Names of German Ancestors

PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FIRST NAMES OF GERMAN ANCESTORS John T. Humphrey * W hen researching German families, problems associated with names can be particularly cumbersome. Difficulties arising from variant spellings of German surnames have been chronicled in this and other publications with some frequency.1 First names are seldom discussed, yet the problem can be significant. At birth, Germans traditionally gave their children two names. For sons, examples would be (in their Anglicized versions) John George, John Peter, or George Michael. For daughters, the names might have been Anna Barbara, Maria Sarah, or Mary Magdalena. The custom of giving children multiple names originated in France. The tradition carried over into Germany in the sixteenth-century, principally into the southwestern portions of Germany–Alsace Lorraine, Saarland, and the Rhineland Pfalz. Later the practice spread to the rest of Germany.2 The tradition was strongest in that region of Germany where the eighteenth-century immigrants to Pennsylvania had their origins. Thus it was a tradition that was brought to Pennsylvania. Problems arise because Germans did not use the formal name they were given at birth as their “call name.” When Germans were with their family or among friends, they used what we think of as their “middle” or “second” name. Thus, an ancestor who was given the name Matthias Ernst Muller at birth was known as Ernst Muller–the first name was dropped. The same held true for women. If a female ancestor was named at birth Maria Barbara Dornbach, she was known by her family and friends as Barbara Dornbach. * John T. Humphrey, PO Box 15190, Washington, DC 20003, is a vice president of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, president of the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society, and former director of the National Genealogical Society Learning Center. He is the author of Understanding and Using Baptismal Records; of the fourteen-volume Pennsylvania Births Series; of Early Families of Northampton County, Pennsylvania; and of articles for the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine and other publications. 1 See, for example, John T. Humphrey, “Establishing the German Origins of Several Northampton County Settlers,” The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine [called Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania before 1948, hereafter cited as PGM], 38(1993): 5—39. 2 Friedrich Wecken, Taschenbuch für Familiengeschichtsforschung (Neustadt an der Aisch, Deutschland: Verlag Degener & Co., Inh., 1990), 345. Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol. 43 (2004) Final copy 31 January, 2010 211 212 Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine [Vol. 43 The first names Johan and Johannes add to the confusion. Both translate to the English equivalent John, but in German there is a difference. In a letter to the author, German genealogist Ella Gieg noted “the Christianname Johannes stands always on its own, never Johannes Adam, Johannes Georg . . . “3 Conversely, Johan or Johann is always used with a second name such as Johann Georg, Johann Peter or Johann Ludwig.4 Thus, in the Muller family example above, in addition to the son Matthias Ernst, the parents might also have had sons named Johann Heinrich Muller, Johannes Muller, and Johan Christian Muller–the English equivalents being Matthew Ernst Miller, John Henry Miller, John Miller, and John Christian Miller. These men would have be known to family and neighbors as Ernst, Henry, John, and Christian Miller. In the eighteenth century in Pennsylvania, non-German parents did not often give their children multiple names at birth–about 5% as compared to nearly two-thirds of German parents.5 Thus it should not be too surprising that when records were recorded at the courthouse by clerks whose origins were in Great Britain, they often did not reference two first names because that was not part of the English naming tradition. With a common surname, a large family, or a migrating individual, the potential for uncertainty or erroneous conclusions increases. Many articles in the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine illustrate the sorts of problems genealogists working on German families might encounter. 3 Ella Gieg, letter to the author, 25 December 1992; see PGM 38(1993): 27. 4 Editor’s note: Diminutives and abbreviations further complicate matters. In the eighteenth century, Johan or Johann is seen as the abbreviated Joh. or the diminutives Hans, Hanß, or Han, accompanied by a second name (Joh. Michel, Hans Jorg, Han Nikel). Johannes is seen as the diminutives Hannes, Hanis, Hans, Hanß, Han, etc. As discussed in this article, however, the recorder of the name is a significant factor, so interpretation should always be based on all records possible. The further removed from the native German tradition that the recorder and/or the individual were, the more likely it is that you will see deviations from adherence to the tradition. An example showing the Johan/Hans equivalence appears in Elizabeth B. Bunting, “Emigrants from Frommern, Weilheim, and Waldstätten, Württemberg, 1750 and 1754,” PGM 43:110—13, in which the minister recorded the departures of Joh: Ludw: Zimmermann, Joh: Georg Mercklen, Joh. Ludwig Stengel, and Joh. Mart. Müller, but the men signed their oaths on arrival as Hans Ludwig Zimmerman, Hans Jerg Mekhel, Hans Ludwieg Stenel, and Hans Martin Müller. 5 Early church registers for Pennsylvania furnish some interesting information detailing these differences. From 1709 until 1780, there were 9,569 baptisms were recorded in the registers of the Church of England’s resident congregation, Christ Church in Philadelphia. Only 485 entries listed two names. One of several church books for the largest German Lutheran church in Pennsylvania, St. Michael’s and Zion in Philadelphia, has entries for 5,072 baptisms performed between 1740 and 1772. Of that total, 3,185 entries listed two names. In other words 63% of the entries in the Lutheran church register identified infants and adults where two names were recorded versus only 5% in the Anglican church register. Final copy 31 January, 2010