Translation Assistance & Possible last name change
I've been researching the birth and death records of the children of my 4th great grandparents from the records located on Matricula Online. On the death records of several of their children there is a statement prior to the father's name that seems to indicate that he had a previous last name. Below is an excerpt from the death record of one of their children in the parents' name column as well as a link to the original document in Matricula Online:
https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/deutschland/osnabrueck/haselunne-st-vincentius/0009/?pg=45 (my relative is Tobias Witte, line 32, first record on the page)
Here are links to 2 other siblings that show the same wording:
https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/deutschland/osnabrueck/haselunne-st-vincentius/0009/?pg=51 (line 64, Anton Witte)
https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/deutschland/osnabrueck/haselunne-st-vincentius/0008/?pg=13 (Line 6, Johan Heinrich)
I also noticed on some of the birth records that some of the godparents had the last name Harren.
I then came across this birth record that appears may be for Johan Heinrich. The father's name is listed as Harren and underneath it Witte(n).
https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/deutschland/osnabrueck/haselunne-st-vincentius/0083/?pg=36 (first record on the page, Dec 31, 1741).
I'm thinking that for some reason his last name changed from Harren to Witte.
I'm looking for a translation of the words highlighted on the screen shots and why the name change (if that's indeed what it is stating).
Thank you.
Darlene Bills
Comentarios
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Hello Darlene,
what you see here are so-called Hofnamen ("farm names"), a practice very common in Westfalen (Westphalia) and the East Hanoverian area, see https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Westphalia_(Westfalen)_Personal_Names
People changed their surnames according to the farm they moved (married) into.
In the first image the surname is Harren genannt Witte (Harren called Witte), in the second Harren dictu Witte, where dictu is Latin for genannt.
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Thank you so much. I had heard of this practice but wasn't sure. I so appreciate your confirming this for me.
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