The German custom at the time the 1st and 2nd Colonies came to America was to give first names to the children that honored a Saint (their Vornamen). Thus, probably more often than not, all boys in the family had the same "first" name (Johann was preferred for boys) and all girls had the same "first" name (Anne was pre- ferred for girls). The "middle" name, as Cathy calls the "second" name, was, in German, called the "Rufname", that is the "calling name". At the time when our Germannan ancestors arrived here, they knew each other by their "Rufnames", or "second" names. But, in Colonial American records, their names were often entered as their "first" names. Sarge (P.S. Cathy, a German boy was NEVER given a "first" name of Johannes if he had a "middle" name. For some reason the ONLY time a boy was named Johannes was when he was not given a "second" name, or "Rufname".) At 9/6/2011 10:55 AM Tuesday, CYLGowdy@aol.com wrote: *********START OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT********* >In a message dated 9/5/11 7:29:18 PM, debi07041016@yahoo.com writes: > >> Was it typical to use the same name for each of the children? >> >Let's put it this way -- it happened with some frequency. My LUTZ line had >examples where all the sons had a first name of Johannes. Of course, they >were called by their second names. > >There are plenty of families where the first names were all different, or a >mixture where two might share the same first name. > >And don't forget that often the names got reversed in the records -- ie, >you might have Ernest Otto, Ernest Hugo, Ernest Georg and Ernest Martin in the >baptismal records, but because they were called Otto, Hugo, etc., the >county reversed the order thinking it more correct, or the man in question simply >did it himself to make life a bit easier. > >Cathy >Marin Co., CA **********END OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT*********** My Germanna Database at Rootsweb: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=germanna My Germanna Website at Rootsweb: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~george/index.html

It was explained to me on one of the Germanna tours, by an recognized expert German genealogist that if the family was going to call the child Johannes [John in English] then there was no need to add Johann [also John in English]in front of Johannes as a first or baptismal name. I have seen this with females have only one name if it is the name of the saint's. Then you get the bad news when only the saint's name is listed by an occasional priests or pastor. This was in the early days of church records--1500s. But, church record keeping varied from village to village and time to time. In case of epidemics, little is noted in the records except minimal information. Cary ----- Original Message ----- From: "George W. Durman" <GermannaResearch@comcast.net> To: <germans-va@rootsweb.com>; <debi07041016@yahoo.com>; <Germanna_Colonies@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 2:44 AM Subject: Re: [GERMANNA] [GERMANS-VA] German Naming Conventions > > The German custom at the time the 1st and 2nd Colonies came to > America was to give first names to the children that honored a > Saint (their Vornamen). Thus, probably more often than not, all > boys in the family had the same "first" name (Johann was preferred > for boys) and all girls had the same "first" name (Anne was pre- > ferred for girls). The "middle" name, as Cathy calls the "second" > name, was, in German, called the "Rufname", that is the "calling name". > At the time when our Germannan ancestors arrived here, they knew > each other by their "Rufnames", or "second" names. But, in > Colonial American records, their names were often entered as their > "first" names. > > Sarge > (P.S. Cathy, a German boy was NEVER given a "first" name of > Johannes if he had a "middle" name. For some reason the ONLY > time a boy was named Johannes was when he was not given a > "second" name, or "Rufname".) > > At 9/6/2011 10:55 AM Tuesday, CYLGowdy@aol.com wrote: > *********START OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT********* > > >In a message dated 9/5/11 7:29:18 PM, debi07041016@yahoo.com writes: > > > >> Was it typical to use the same name for each of the children? > >> > >Let's put it this way -- it happened with some frequency. My LUTZ line had > >examples where all the sons had a first name of Johannes. Of course, they > >were called by their second names. > > > >There are plenty of families where the first names were all different, or a > >mixture where two might share the same first name. > > > >And don't forget that often the names got reversed in the records -- ie, > >you might have Ernest Otto, Ernest Hugo, Ernest Georg and Ernest Martin in the > >baptismal records, but because they were called Otto, Hugo, etc., the > >county reversed the order thinking it more correct, or the man in question simply > >did it himself to make life a bit easier. > > > >Cathy > >Marin Co., CA > **********END OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT*********** > > My Germanna Database at Rootsweb: > http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=germanna > > My Germanna Website at Rootsweb: > http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~george/index.html > > TN Germanna Reunion - Sept. 9-11 http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~george/easttennesseereunion2011.html > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMANNA_COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message