German Names
If a person from Germany has several names like:
Christian Friedrich August Jonathan Retzlaff
or
Ida Auguste Albertine Freitag
Which name would they typically have gone by?
Thanks!!
Best Answer
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In my experience it is more common in Germany to create a female diminutive by using the end of the name rather than the start. For instance, the person above named Ida Auguste Albertine, might have gone by Gussie or Tina.
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Answers
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Only you can determine that: mainly from the records you discover relating to them, throughout their lives. The general consensus appears to be to show the name they were most commonly known by as the name you input in the Vitals section of their Family Tree profile. You can then add all further names (variant and otherwise) in the Other Information section, under Alternate Names. However, some FT users always show the birth name under Vitals, so there is no hard and fast rule. I agree the decision can be quite difficult, especially in a situation where an individual (from Germany, say) spent the first part of his life using his German / birth name, then emigrated (say to the U.S.), from when he used an anglicised form of his name until his death.
If you are raising the issue from another standpoint, please return to expand your comments, so your question might be addressed with different suggestions.
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And you might consider posting in the group for Germany Research where members experienced in that area can help.
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Which of a string of names a person actually went by depends on when and where, the particular family, the specific names, and any number of essentially-random factors, but there can be broad patterns.
The general assumption made by people from single-naming cultures was that the first of the string was the "actual" name, and the rest was just highfalutin' fluff. This assumption was based on observation: many people who were bestowed multiple names at birth never used anything besides the first of that group of names, to the point that they didn't remember the rest of the list.
My spouse's German-speaking Lutheran ancestors in Hungary generally used the second of the names given to them at baptism. However, this was complicated by the assumptions of the people who recorded their names; they inevitably only wrote down the first of the string when compiling indexes, for example. (In most Hungarian-speaking communities, people get one name apiece. They may get dozens of godparents, though.)
My own German-speaking Lutheran ancestors in what is now Burgenland generally gave one name per person, except for a few double names that were always treated as a unit. For example, if a person was named Johann Georg, then he was always Johann Georg, not Johann and not Georg.
(And then there's my spouse's distant relative who was christened Eva Rosina but went by Theresia. [It's definitely her; her marriage record mentions both names.])
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You can find a very good discussion of German naming customs at kerchner.com/germname.htm.
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The family is from the area that is now Ginawa, Poland (Gienow, Regenwalde, Pommern) and Ińsko, Poland (Nörenberg, Saatzig, Pommern).
The reason I ask is because I have seen a few different names and I'm not sure if they are the correct person or not.
On Christian Friedrich civil vitals for his death in 1907 in Nörenberg — his Father listed as Christian Retzlaff and his Mother as Charlotte Retzlaff.
The Parents that I have are Carl Ludwig Retzlaff and Marie Friedricke Wilhelmine Höfs.
I cant imagine that there are very many Christian Friedrich August Jonathan Retzlaff's from the same area.
His sister Auguste Bertha (Berta) Louise Wilhelmine has August Retzlaf and Wilhelmine Höfs listed as her parents. She was born in Henkenhagen, Regenwalde which is now Ustronie Morskie, Poland. She was married in Gienow and the marriage record has her father as Carl Retzlaff.
So, I guess I'm wondering if Carl Ludwig had other names that he may have went by—the same with his wife and that's why the name Charlotte is listed…
Unless—Carl remarried after his wife died in 1862 and her name was Charlotte. But that still wouldn't explain why his name is listed as Christian, except if his name is actually longer than just Carl Ludwig…0 -
I just found out I’m 47 percent of German
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