[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Names, names, names. . .

[Jerry Frank]

At 03:49 AM 06/10/2006, Günther Böhm wrote:
>Otto schrieb:
>
> >Catholic girls usually have a 'Mary' in there somewhere, and Lutheran
> >girls an 'Anna'. (indicators)
> >
>
>Otto,
>I agree with all you wrote and appreciate it very much.
>Just one correction: 'Anna' (the mother of Mary) is a catholic indicator.
>
>Typical Lutheran names were - out of Martin of course - Gottfried,
>Gottlieb, Christian ("the christianized"), Gustav (Gustav Adolf, king of
>Sweden) and a lot of old-testamentarian names like Adam, Daniel, Jonas
>and Elias.
>
>Guenther




Again one must remember the variations in Otto's so-called clusters.

In my research of the records for Nagold, 
Wuerttemberg as well as others in the Sulz am 
Neckar area to the south, the Lutherans, over 
several hundred years, continued the practice of 
using a saint's name for several children in the 
family.  Several sons might be named Johann 
Gottlieb, Johann Jacob, Johann Georg, etc. and be 
known by their Ruffnahme - the second 
name.  Similarly the daughters might be Maria 
Agnes, Maria Dorothea, Maria Katharina, 
etc.  Anna Maria was also a very popular name 
there.  If a son was only to be known as "John" 
rather than another Ruffnahme, he would be named Johannis or Hans.

All this emphasis on Maria IN SPITE of the fact 
that they were Protestant Lutheran.  And while 
other Biblical names were given, no other saint's 
names were used as duplicates - only Johann and Maria.



Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca