Donna, All three names could very well be for the same family. The pronunciation of the ue or u umlaut was one of the things my German teacher dwelled on. Seems the English speakers normally don't move their mouths to make the umlaut sounds and the muscles have to be retrained. In some of my CDs the umlauts do not appear in the names. Some names are spelled with just the u or with ue. Add to this some English speaking person listening to a German speaking in one of many dialects. It is very easy for Bruecker to become Bricker or even Briker and Priker. Bob Bensing > -----Original Message----- > From: der@redrose.net [mailto:der@redrose.net] > Sent: Sunday, May 02, 1999 11:02 PM > To: PALEBANO-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [PALEBANO-L] BRUCKER/BRICKER > > > I have a question regarding the surname BRUCKER. In baptismal > records of > the late 1790s/early 1800s I see the name BRUCKER in church records. Come > the 1850 census, I seem to see the name BRICKER. Are these one and the > same? I can see the name Bruecker becoming Bruecker because of > the umlaut, > but was not sure about the BRICKER variation. Thanks. > > Regards, > Donna Ristenbatt