Sue, you are right in everything you said. a) the origin of Dionis is Dionysos, the Greek God of Wine. b) there is a christian origin which is Dionysos of Alexandria, a bishop of the third century. c) the name, though not that common, was used quite regularly before the 20th century. d) it is nearly extinct now d) Bonn is not really a grape growing area but is not that far north of the most famous German wine area, the Rheingau. _________________________ Heinz L. Zulauf Flotowstrasse 9 D-64287 Darmstadt Germany e-mail: [email protected] Visit my Private Homepage "The Classical Music Site" http://myweb.vector.ch/zulauf _________________________ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sue Schafer" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 01, 2000 10:16 PM Subject: [GERMAN-LIFE] First Name Dionis > My ggrandfather's name was Johann Dionis Schaefer (from Prussia, Rhineland, Bonn, suburb of Witterschlick). Born in 1821 Witterschlick, He was a teacher of music at Bonn University. Although Dionis (or Dionysius) is an unusual name nowadays was it once common? Has anyone seen it very often? It IS separate and unrelated to the name Dennis, isn't it? > Thanks, Sue > (As a wine lover, I'd like to imagine that he was named after the Greek God of Wine, but there is probably a Catholic saint somewhere named Dionysius. Was the Bonn area a grape growing area? surely its too cold up there.. sorry for my dumb questions.) > >