Dear Baden-Wuerttemberg List Friends, In response to those seeking help with names (both given names and surnames), there are a number of Web sites which provide information about German and other given names, surnames and nicknames that are very helpful to family researchers. Visit one or more for more information (all of those below are FREE). The list has been UPDATED as of August 4, 2008, and obsolete/nonfunctional links have been removed: German Names/Deutsche Namen, Part One: First Names http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa042699.htm?once=true German Names, Part Two: Surnames (Nachnamen) http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa050399.htm?once=true German First Names Lexicon (Vornamenlexikon) http://german.about.com/library/blvornamen01.htm?once=true Catholic Online Saints [name index] [As children were often named after recognized 'saints,' this is a superb resource for figuring out such archaic and unfamiliar first name[s] as "Kunigunda," "Kilianus," "Sixtus," "Dionys," "Urbanus," "Eleutherius," "Polycarpus," "Eudoxia," "Hieronymous," "Blaisius," and many, many more] http://saints.catholic.org/stsindex.html 18th Century Pennsylvania Dutch [German] Nicknames http://www.kerchner.com/nickname.htm 18th Century Pennsylvania Dutch [German] Naming Customs http://www.kerchner.com/germname.htm Gateway to Surname Origins (many links, not limited to Germanic names) http://www.angelfire.com/ks/windshipgenhelp/indexsurnamehelps.html Translation of First Names (interactive, but not comprehensive) http://www8.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/html/wwp/engl/entr/trans.html Last Name Meanings & Origins - How to Trace the Origin of Your Surname http://genealogy.about.com/od/surnames/a/surname_meaning.htm "Dit" Names (Name Variations) http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/lwjones/dit.htm Behind the Name: The Etymology & History of First Names (has an alphabetic search feature) http://www.behindthename.com/ German First Names & Their Meanings (site in German) http://www.kindername.de/ I have used a number of these sites in the course of my own research. You can find lots of others by using Google or another search engine and using a search term like "German name research" or similar. Hope they prove helpful to others! With warmest wishes, Carla HELLER, Los Angeles, California USA mscarlah@earthlink.net List Co-Administrator, ROOTSWEB'S Baden-Wuerttemberg Mailing List ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BADEN-WURTTEMBERG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message