Hi Cousins, thought this might be of interest. The site shows name origins and has info on middle name usage etc. Pretty interesting items. Note on the following that PAUER is an alternative spelling for BAUER. Happy hunting, Linda http://clanhuston.com/name/surnames.htm Hoffman: German Nickname Name...hoef ( hof with the two-dots over the o = umlaut) means court or small farmer and Hoffman is a nickname for a farmer who owned his land rather than rented. Huff: English Place Name...from the Old English hoh = heel, and referred to one who lived at the spur of a hill. Bauer is a German status name for a peasant or a nickname for the "neighbor, fellow citizen." Baumann is a variation of the German and Jewish nickname Bauer, which meant 'neighbor' or 'fellow citizen.' It was derive from German bauer, from bur = occupant of a small dwelling. Pauer, Gebuhr, Bauman are other variations. Cognates are Burmann, Bur, Buhrmann, Burmann, Bouwer (Low German); Boerma, Boersma, Bouman (Frisian); De Boer, Boere, Boerman, Bouwer, Bouwman, Bouwmeester , (Dutch); Bohr (Danish); Por (Hungarian). Get your Free E-mail at http://alsace.zzn.com ____________________________________________________________ Get your 100MB FREE Internet storage! Sign up now - http://www.netdrive.com/?ao=zzn