German first name usage

LBartsch

while researching my g-g-grandfather in Germany, I’ve found that his forenames are sometimes reversed in records. Example… “Friedrich Wilhelm” and “Wilhelm Friedrich”.
Was this a common occurrence in the 1800’s? Clerical error?

Robert Seal_1

Hello @LBartsch,

While this is not necessarily a common occurrence, I have also seen this reversal of forenames in German records of my ancestors.

This might be a clerical error. It may also be because people often went by a middle name in everyday life and this might have led to their forenames being reversed. I have even seen examples where the forenames have been reversed on a document and then the scribe/clerk wrote the numbers "1" and "2" over the forenames to show the correct order.

LBartsch

thank you for responding. I had a feeling that was the issue

Robert Seal_1

You're welcome, @LBartsch.