Hello fellow Alsacians, My grandfather, born Othon Goepp, at some point in his life (probably when he was in Paris in the late 19th, early 20th century) changed his last name to Guerlac. I do not yet know when he changed his name or where. I only know that he took the name Guerlac to honor a 19th (18th?) century German whose life he admired. My sister recalls my father saying that this German was a socialist, or a revolutionary, "a good guy," she recalls him telling her. I have searched web several times at some length, but have only found the Gerlach brothers, one of whom seems to have been close to Bismark (this is from memory, understand), so I suspect he was not the Gerlach my grandfather, a journalist, translator, literary person, and later French professor, wished to emulate. My German (which I'm working on again) is currently insufficient to browse the German web, but I wonder if any of the correspondents of this listserv, who know so much, could point me towards a good prospect (a dictionary of German biography must exist). Thank you, and I enjoy so much reading your daily posts. Lucy Battersby (soon to be Guerlac again, which suggests the urgency of my inquiry)

> (a dictionary of German biography must exist). Lucy, sure, German biography dictionaries exist. Here is one: <http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/index.html> Also, don't forget the German Wikipedia: <http://de.wikipedia.org> Good luck Etienne Le 29 juil. 11 à 21:29, Lucy Battersby a écrit : > Hello fellow Alsacians, > > My grandfather, born Othon Goepp, at some point in his life > (probably when he was in Paris in the late 19th, early 20th century) > changed his last name to Guerlac. I do not yet know when he changed > his name or where. I only know that he took the name Guerlac to > honor a 19th (18th?) century German whose life he admired. My > sister recalls my father saying that this German was a socialist, or > a revolutionary, "a good guy," she recalls him telling her. I have > searched web several times at some length, but have only found the > Gerlach brothers, one of whom seems to have been close to Bismark > (this is from memory, understand), so I suspect he was not the > Gerlach my grandfather, a journalist, translator, literary person, > and later French professor, wished to emulate. My German (which I'm > working on again) is currently insufficient to browse the German > web, but I wonder if any of the correspondents of this listserv, who > know so much, could point me towards a good prospect (a dict! > ionary of German biography must exist). > > Thank you, and I enjoy so much reading your daily posts. > > Lucy Battersby (soon to be Guerlac again, which suggests the urgency > of my inquiry)