Home› Groups› Switzerland Research

Switzerland Research

Join

Spelling of a last name

ljbarizona
ljbarizona ✭
January 25, 2023 edited January 25, 2023 in Social Groups
image.png

Birth record of Benedicta

Father: Hans Wehlten? on his marriage record it is spelled Wahlten with an " over the a. Same thing?

Mother: Same thing, but on the birth record it is Appolonia Schwitzgabel with an " over the a here and on marriage record it looks like Schwitzgebel. Is it one in the same?

image.png

These records are from Lauenen, Bern, Switzerland.

Thank you.

0

Answers

  • WSeelentag
    WSeelentag ✭✭✭✭✭
    January 26, 2023

    The [" over the a] is the umlaut ä (quite common in German, like ö and ü). In earlier times (when spellings of names were not fixed) you will find ä and e interchangeable quite often.

    So Schwitzgäbel and Schwitzgebel is definitely the same family, spelled Schwizgebel today, long established citizens of Lauenen.

    Then we have Wählten und Wehlten - again same family - but what is the spelling today? The Register of Swiss Surnames lists Welten as citizens of Lenk and Wälten as citizens of Saanen. As Saanen is much closer to Lauenen than Lenk I would place my bet on Wälten - and check the records of Saanen for a suitable birth record, and possibly for his first marriage.

    BTW - in an earlier response I had mentioned my proposed structure for discussion titles on https://community.familysearch.org/de/discussion/129680/what-title-would-be-best-for-postings ... I would appreciate if you could follow this 😉.

    0
  • ljbarizona
    ljbarizona ✭
    January 29, 2023 edited January 29, 2023

    Thank you so much for the clarification of the names. I will not forget next time to move the question to discussion format. Also, for the extra info you shared about the current spelling of the names. That is very important as well.

    0
Clear
No Groups Found

Categories

  • All Categories