Frank used to be used as a nickname for Francis. I had a great-uncle and his cousin who were both named just plain Frank, not Francis or Franz - both sets of parents were Prussian, but the Franks were born in the US. However, they did have an uncle named Franz, born in Prussia, so perhaps they were given the American version of Franz for him. My great-grandfather was Friedrich in Prussia, Frederick in the US, and his grandson Frederick was nicknamed Fred. Re Ludwig - in Latin church records, Ludovicus (male) and Ludovica (female) are used when the English names are Louis and Louise/Louisa....info from a priest. Since w in German is pronounced v, I can see the connection is there for Ludwig being translated Louis. Janet Ruthfam@aol.com wrote: In a message dated 5/14/2007 4:33:40 P.M. Central Standard Time, prussia13@aol.com writes: The German proper name for Frank is Franc. Franz is Francis not Frank in German This may confuse the issue more, but my great-grandfather was baptized Franciscus, but called Franz. His son was called Franz in Germany, but Frank when he came to America. Ruth ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --------------------------------- Don't pick lemons. See all the new 2007 cars at Yahoo! Autos.