[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] surname metrics and name changes

[gary and rhonda simpson]

I recently posted this on the Poland roots board, and Rose suggested that I
post here also due to the German content so here goes.

Last fall I wrote to the Central Address Bureau in Poland to get the
addresses of 7
Litz's that were in the latest edition of Herby.  Around Christmas I got a
letter from the Polish Embassy in Toronto requesting payment of $54.00 Cdn
for a document sent from Poland. I paid, and they sent me 5 names and
addresses.  I was ecstatic.  I quickly wrote 5 letters, written in English
and poorly translated by machine into Polish...l sent them out with IRC's
attached and to my absolute glee I received and email this week...IN
ENGLISH..from one them.

The name I am researching was Litz from the L~omza region.  The lady who
wrote me indicated that her maiden name was Lic and in her metrics Lietz.
I do not know what this means? Could anyone offer any clues on this?Now, for
another question, I have seen names that have been changed in my
own family with Germanic background that came from Russian Poland, then
moved to Volhynia .  My Krvning, became Kroening, then Kroning, then Krening
and ended up Kraning. Is there some rule as to what vowel is dropped in a
name?  I remember from my brief stint in German school that two vowels
together took the sound of the 2nd vowel, so would the first be dropped?
(i.e. Leitz to Litz?)

There is a chance that she may still be a relative as there has been
spelling of Lietz for Litz in Canada over the years, and her grandfather's
first name is the same as one of my grandfather's brothers but it was a
common German name (August) in the 1800's. Her father was born in Czarnocin,
Poland, and there is one of seven places of this name north of L~omza. (Ok
I'm reaching but it could be). She now lives in Tczew.( I found that on the
map too...I think I'm getting the hang of this genealogy stuff)

I'm still dancing however as this is a contact in the old country ( I feel
like I'm getting old when I say that).

I am now anxiously awaiting further letters or emails from the other 4 and
maybe the genealogy gods will be good to me once again.

Look forward to any comments on the Lic/Leitz/Litz controversy.
..As a postscript, I received the following responses on the Poland site:
,,Hi Rhonda - congratulations on your success!  Lic/Litz/Lietz are all
different spellings for the same name, Lic being Polish and the other
two being German.  By "metrics" she means birth/marriage/death
records, which are called metrical records. Apparently her name shows
in the records with the German spelling.
and this one;
German vowels altered with the umlaut (marked with two dots over) are
usually represented adding an E when you can't type or print the sign. So
there is no difference between Krvning and Kroening.
Kroning, Krening and Kraning are wrong variants. The pronunciation of v is
like the English a, as in make, without the final diphthongal glide, but
pronounced with rounded lips (from "Basic hey to German Pronunciation" in
"Britannica World Language Dictionary").


Rhonda Simpson...Dancing in some snow still here in Eastern Manitoba



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