This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Straub, Stroup, Strauß, Strauss Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/0IQBAEB/45.62.63.64.1 Message Board Post: Yes, in America there are many phonetic misspellings of the original German/German-Swiss surname STRAUB -- and of all German surnames -- primarily because most of our German ancestors arrived here as illiterate farmers. They had no idea how to spell their own names, even in German. How their name got written down depended on the skill and diligence of some English-speaking clerk, who may very well have been barely literate himself. By far the most common variation that descendants of STRAUB have adopted is STROUP. The next most common is probably STROUB. My own grandfather spelled his name two ways, STROUB and STRAUB, as did his grandfather -- and both were literate. All of his descendants spell it STRAUB (and pronounce it STRAWB). And, of course, the number of misreadings of STRAUB and STROUP by indexers and transcribers is even greater than the number of phonetic misspellings! However, I'm afraid I have to disagree that there is any connection between STRAUB and STRAUSS... The letters "S" and "B" are definitely not interchangeable in German. In English and German, the letter "B" is equivalent. I'm afraid you are confusing the German letter "ß" (called "ess-tset") with English "B", which letters are not equivalent. German "ß" is equivalent to English "ss" which is why you will see "STRAUSS" spelled "STRAUß," but you will never see "STRAUB" spelled "STRAUß," except by someone who doesn't know German. STRAUSS is not English for STRAUB, it is English for STRAUß. If there is any name that is an Anglicized version of STRAUB, it is STROUP. If you are aware that the German surname was not pronounced STRAWB, but STROWB (the vowel rhymes with sow, not sob), then you will understand why STROUP was the most common Anglicized version of STRAUB. Note that, initially, STROUP was almost certainly pronounced "STROWP." Over time, the pronunciation STROWP became STROOP (and STROWB became STRAWB). Bottom line is... there is no connection between surnames STRAUB and STRAUSS. Neither surname is derived from the other because no German would ever confuse "B" and "ß." And no German or English-speaker would confuse the two when spoken because STRAUB and STRAUSS don't sound alike. The only possible place for confusion is an English-speaking person copying the surname from a document *written* in German, though I have yet to run across such an instance in historical records because an English-speaking clerk is not likely to even attempt to read or copy a document written in German. Sorry to have to disagree, but I think it's important to clear this up. For further discussion on the general issue of spelling, please see this web page: http://dgmweb.net/genealogy/Misc/Common/Spelling.htm Also, I apologize for the inconvenience, but the URL to my genealogy web site has changed to: http://dgmweb.net/genealogy/index.htm Good hunting.