Chris, I'm sure someone else on the list can answer more expertly. Most of my early Germans changed their names around the turn of the century, Gottlieb Friedrich to Fred, Carl to Charles etc. I think it had a lot to do with the political situation in Germany at the time. The Kaiser becoming more aggressive and so forth. The fatherland was openly demanding that German immigrants in Australia support the Kaiser. There were marchs, rallies and so forth which caused some anti-german sentiment in some areas. I think one Lutheran church in Toowoomba was burned. Adopting a more anglicised forename was a step many immigrants took. My impression is that the majority identified more with their new home than the fatherland, and just wanted to be left alone to get on with their lives. My impression is that these were simply names they became 'known as' and were not formally adopted, for example by deed poll. I read a fascinating book about german immigrants during this period a while ago, but can't remeber what it was called. Hope this helps a little Janice N' _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp