Northern Germany farm surnames
I have many farm owner ancestors from Northern Germany. When a man became a farm owner by marriage or purchase, he changed his surname to the farm name. I am having difficulty figuring out how to manage these different surnames in Family Search. One of my ancestors had three surnames during the course of his life. I know this overlaps with married names vs maiden names, but one difference is that there is often no spouse who has the farm name to make the connection to that name. In many cases neither parent has the same birth surname as the children. This is compounded by the tradition (necessity) that a farm owner or wife remarry within months of being widowed. There are long chains of remarriages where no one was born with the farm name, yet that is the surname on all of their subsequent records.
How are others entering these Northern Germany farm names in family search?
의견
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I'm working on the Versmold area, and have a lot of Hof names.
I put the name at birth as the primary name, and list the various Hof names as alternate names. "Johann Peter Borgmann" & "Johann Peter Borgmann d. Knepper".
I have seen other people list the Hof name as the primary name, and birth name as an alternate. Although, if they had different Hof names at different times, you would have to choose one as the primary.
This naming system does make it complicated to figure out who is related to who. The name is almost useless in deciding likely kinship.
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Perhape you might be able to help me out. I too am working on a farm name and am very confused with this naming system.
I am searching on the line of Roman Derra, who was a farmer in Germany. He was in the Underfranken Bavaria area in 1893. I am unable to find any information on his family. I have checked the Catholic Church Archives and they are unable to find any information on him. The Archives said that perhapes his surname was misspelled or changed. I am thinking it was changed more than anything. Since Roman was a farmer, do you think you might be able to help me out with his last name? Any help will be appreciated
Regards,
BBAllen
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The Hof naming system was used in parts of Germany, but I don't know if that includes Bavaria. There are some descriptions of the naming system on the internet. Some of them might be in German. Deepl.com does a good job of translating for me.
I've been researching Versmold in the 1700s. In that area, I think that the practice of adopting the farm name was largely stopped sometime in the 1800s. It had been part of the serf tenant system. The lease contract required the Colonus of the farm to have a certain name, however he became Colonus. As the serf system was phased out, the naming system was also phased out. So it seems unlikely that Roman changed his name because he married into a farm.
T's and D's are often swapped, perhaps look for variations on Terra?
I'm sorry I don't have any more help. Good luck with your search.
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Thank you for your comment and your advise. I was not aware that the T's and D's were swapped.
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