[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Tidbits of Info

[Bronwyn Klimach]

One family around Prenzlau happily name three sons Friedrich Wilhelm, all
within a few years of each other.  I fear I may have become a little
superstitious of the name by then.  When we unwittingly named a child after
one of my husband's much older sisters (one of four who had died in
infancy), members of the family who were aware of this situation said
nothing.  About four years later when we discovered the existance of this
namesake I was rather pleased to have her name remembered in this way.

One naming trend I have noticed around Suwalki is that the Lutherans seem to
have one Christian name (endlessly reused by cousins etc of course) and
stick with it.  Meanwhile around Wuertt they frequently have three or even
four Christian names but choose to use only one at a given time, then on the
next document a different one and so on.  Eventually something clicks and
Henrietta, Dorothea and Sophia turn out to all be the same person - phew!

Following trends in Christian names can be fun and rewarding when links are
found to conditions at the time, such as names of popular rulers.  I rather
wish I had known more about family names when our children were born,
although we did try to avoid those of football players and pop stars at the
time.

Many thanks for the interesting comments on this topic, and so many others.
Bronwyn Klimach

On 10/5/06, Jerry Frank <FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca> wrote:
>
> Lexi:
>
> Trying to establish rules or even guidelines regarding naming practices
> can be very tricky - perhaps even unwise.  Just when you think you have
> found a pattern, the rule gets broken.  If you rely too much on the pattern,
> your research can be slowed or may contain errors.
>
> The example currently under discussion occurs but never with
> consistency.  It may change from one generation to another, from one family
> branch to another; or may skip a generation or two.
>
> When you encounter anomalies, it is probably best to simply question them
> in a forum such as this.  Chances are that someone else has "been there" and
> you will get an explanation.
>
> In spite of my caution, I would encourage others to participate in this
> discussion by letting us know certain practices that you may have uncovered
> in your German research.
>
>
> Jerry Frank
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Donne, Alexsana" <ADonne at sara.com>
> Date: Thursday, October 5, 2006 3:32 pm
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Tidbits of Info
>
> > Is there a set of guidelines somewhere for beginning genealogists? I
> > discovered naming a child after a previous child by accident in my
> > searches, along with certain family names being handed down over and
> > over and over again.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Lexi
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org
> > [ger-poland-volhynia-
> >
> > Hi Jerry
> >
> >  I saw a comment you made at some web site which said
> > it was common practice to name a child after a
> > previous dead child with the same name.I found this
> > very helpful and it answered some puzzles for me. I
> > would like to know how you knew this. Is it something
> > you read or just knew due to your heritage? It's
> > little clues like this that can be very helpful. If it
> > is something you read, there may be other helpful
> > clues as well.
> >                             Regards Robert Norenberg
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
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