> Von: Noreen Burney <norcon@ccrtc.com> > I have been told that EISAN is of German origin. Does anyone know > whether this is true, or if it is not - what could it be? > > Any help would be appreciated. You can check this by yourself by going to the German White Pages on line (http://www.teleauskunft.de). I just found one company with this name - no private people. EISEN is a German surname and means iron. ISEN is also a German surname and originates in Eisen. The English 'ei' is pronounced like a German 'i' and 'ie', and the English 'i' and 'ie' is pronounced like the German 'ei'. English natives who don't understand German often mix this up. It's difficult to say from where EISAN comes from. One can not know if this surname mistakenly became Anglizised when the ancestor emigrated. The emigration officer did not speak/write/understand German, the emigrant did not speak/write/understand English. The officer wrote what he phonetical heard. The emigrant said "Yes." because the surname phonetically sounded like the German surname and was not aware of the different spelling. Think about this when researching in Germany. It's a mistake which very often comes up in these days. Best regards, Johannes Sempert from Germany