Have just discovered that my maiden name Orteneau was changed from the original German name, Ortenau. What is known of the surname, Ortenau? I know of the region, but who were originally from that area? Any information would be appreciated. Regards, Darlene O. Deno

Darlene, When I first viewed your List question, I didn't think that anyone would be able to give you a decent answer. I fear that my thoughts remain the same these hours later. Whether you can receive a proper answer is probably only a guess and that answer would be....a yes, a no or a maybe. While surnames are vital to us in our ancestral search, surnames in a full historic time-line are something relatively new. All of us have many generations of unknown ancestors who had only one name; perhaps, way back when, our ancestor was Hans the Cobbler or maybe Jerg the Butcher. Surnames eventually were added to the normal name and added based on various circumstances....a job title, a physical description, a friendly (or insulting) nickname, a home town area, just an area, dozens of reason. There are several books which have been published offering ideas of surname origins. Bahlow and Gottschald published their efforts in Germany and Jones has compiled an American effort. Whether any of these or others are 100% correct is doubtful but a good genealogical library should have one or more of these books and maybe a possible hint of an answer might be available for you at that type of source. Beyond these books, genealogical societies in our searched area through publications such as the "Südwestdeutsche Blätter für Familien und Wappenkunde" have occasionally a potential origin/meaning of a surname. I tried to check the on-line German telephone book for you without much success. No returns were offered for "Orteneau" and the hundred-plus returns for "Ortenau" suggested, on the whole, business activities in the Ortenaukreis. Hopefully, someone more versed in searching that on-line directory can eliminate the business names to determine if any such surname exists today. While the suffix "eau" might have suggested to me that I also check the French telephone book, with your statement that the surname was Germanic, I elimated the thought of French or Alsatian from my mind. The Ortenau, in history, has been mentioned for hundreds of years. A German native should be able to offer more details on its history. Various web sites offer the locations Ortenau and Mortenau dating back a thousand years ago. It boils down....if your ancestor came from the Ortenau....the answer is a yes, a no or a maybe. Again, with hopes, someone smarter than I can offer you a Germanic background on the area. From what little might be found of the area, in US books, I would guess the Alamans (Alemanni) and the Franks might be the first known tribes of the area found by the Romans with the Suevi following at a later time. At an even later time this area should have been incorporated into Swabia. From Swabia we probably move on to the families of the Staufen(s), the Zähringen(s) and eventually the Habsburg(s). Maybe a web site at < http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/germany/gerindexx.html > might lead into a few answers as to the Germanic areas including the Ortenau. No answer for you but perhaps some thoughts for you. djweber [email protected] ---------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2005 8:59 PM Subject: Re: [Ortenau] information got erased > Have just discovered that my maiden name Orteneau was changed from the > original German name, Ortenau. What is known of the surname, Ortenau? I > know of > the region, but who were originally from that area? Any information would > be > appreciated. > > Regards, > > Darlene O. Deno