In a message dated 7/29/00 8:15:24 PM Eastern Daylight Time, ginia2@san.rr.com writes: << I was also told that in the early German naming pattern, the first name was given to honor a saint or a revered or respected person, and that the second name was the one actually used. >> That would explain wby my ggreatgrandmother and her sisters were Maria Dorothea, Maria Sarah, and Maria Valentine! I amways wondered. Had they been Catholic it would have made sense, but they were Lutheran. Thanks! Chuck Schwartz