Surnames and Places
I have chosen to standardize some family surnames
and names of places. Some names are remarkably the same, and others
vary in
spelling with every recorded occurrence. Without standardization no
index
is very useful – just as no writing is very good without spell checking!
Sometimes the variation is because of
interchangeable letters in old German. T and D were interchangeable as
were P and B. Examples are my surname which in the oldest church
registers were sometimes TANGEL, but later always DANGEL – remarkably,
almost always exactly DANGEL.
Later, when signatures were placed in the record
they often could only write their surname as DANGEL and rarely DANGELL
– never DANGLE as I often have it misspelled.
I have removed the German female ending in most
cases for the same reason, indexing. I do not know of any of my family
having
their surname changed permanently by using the female ending on
unmarried
children. So DANGLERIN, etc. is DANGEL, the ERIN being a standard
German
addition to surnames for female children. Usually in my notes I give
the
exact spelling.
Usually I have standardized on the spelling most
commonly used by cousins living in that area today. When there is still
variability today, I may use the actual spelling for those I know, even
though it would be better for indexing to have them the same. The local
telephone directory has been my guide. See the table at the end with
some of my Alsacien family names and numbers.
Names often vary with each recording. For my
Slovenian or Austrian ancestor Joseph VERSIC, each ancestor is spelled
differently, but phonetically they are about the same. The priests
sometimes wrote the records in three languages for one event: German,
Latin, and Slovene. With German having no V and Slovene having no W,
each occurrence requires checking both sections of an index. Another
name from this area with interchangeable old German letters were
KRAMPERGER and the now used KRAMBERGER (P interchangeable with B).
On pre names or first names, usually I have chosen
to use the born name spelling and use later or more modern spellings as
a nickname – in my program printed after the surname. Some cousins
always use their
language's modern spelling and I am tempted to do so for indexing
within
surname. Some pre names are numerous and have many variations as for
Margaret.
One reason I have not standardized them is the amount of time it would
take
and then which variation would I use? My family from Alsace has had
name
changes with every war for centuries. Even without wars pre names
change
with every entry by different priests, civil servants, or present
cousins.
Common names as Maria Anna will be written differently for her birth,
marriage,
death, and every child's birth. She will be Marie Anne, Anne Marie,
Marianna,
just Marie or just Anne, or lately Marie-Anne with the hyphen. What
name
is correct? I use born name when known.
Currently in France they seldom use an umlaut.
Alsace having been German or Austrian with the Hapsburgs and the Holy
Roman Empire (neither holy nor Roman!) speak a German dialect at home
even today. In
the past surnames often included an umlaut. Presently I know of none
being
used for surnames or place names in Alsace. Usually the name has been
revised
to add an extra E after the umlauted letter as MOERNACH. DURLINSDORF
does
not and the umlaut on the U is ignored. Occasionally a name is used
presently both ways as there are some UBERSCHLAG and more UEBERSCHLAG
in the Sundgau.
Since names are always changing and I may change
some with every edition of the genealogy, we all have to search for our
best
guesses.
On places, I usually use the modern location name
when possible. MOOS is an exception as I do not use the newest name of
MOOSLARGUE as I do not wish confusion with which register the data came
from. With
so many French cousins, I have adopted their system of including the
department number when known, and not adding the department name,
region, or country France. Likewise, for Slovenia, I have not included
the country name as
they know where they are and it seems not necessary to use with
separate
sections of the web cards for each part of the family. It saves space
and
ink, even though it would be more correct to have the country name as
well.
Other country names are mostly in English, except where I did not
standardize
names from data of cousins.
I usually use abbreviations for countries, states,
and county. I have thought about spelling them out, and taking more
space to
store and print them, as well as revising places collected from other
cousins,
but it would be a big time consuming job.
If you find your family name or born name in my
genealogy not to your liking, please write me and tell me what you use.
I like to
hear from all cousins. I prefer to have correct full names and dates
and
places for all events, even though data is suppressed for web cards on
living
persons. I exchange complete data with real cousins. I like to know
where
they presently live also.
| SURNAME |
Number in Haut-Rhin in October 2003 |
| BIEDERMANN |
16 |
| BIGENWALD |
5 |
| BROEGLIN |
15 |
| CASPAR |
41 |
| DANGEL |
55 |
| EGMANN |
14 |
| ENDERLIN |
144 |
| FLORY |
58 |
| GISSINGER |
82 |
| GODINAT |
13 |
| HEINIS |
103 |
| HEMMERLIN |
87 |
| HIRTZLIN |
49 |
| KANDEL |
3 |
| KLEIN |
576 |
| MACKER |
16 |
| MEISTER |
162 |
| MISLIN |
63 |
| MONA |
46 |
| MULLER |
2098 |
| PRACHT |
21 |
| ROTH |
343 |
| RUETSCH |
145 |
| SCHALTENBRAND |
1 |
| SCHLICKIN |
32 |
| SCHNEIDER |
796 |
| SIESS |
14 |
| UBERSCHLAG |
13 |
| UEBERSCHLAG |
86 |
| VETTER |
99 |
| WAGNER |
370 |
| WALTER |
478 |
| WILLIG |
130 |
| WOLFER |
31 |
| ZIMMERMANN |
572 |
James R. Dangel
P.O. Box 219
Sitka, Alaska 99835 USA
Phone: 907-747-3348
Email:
