[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Name translations

[Jerry Frank]

At 07:49 PM 09/10/2006, Dan wrote:
>     My grandmothers name on a Russian document is given as Emilia 
> Yakovleva Mayert.  Can anyone tell me the German or English version 
> of Yakovleva?.
>And is Adolph the Russianized version of Adolf, or are they fully 
>interchangeable?
>Thanks
>Dan Buss


Yes - Adolf and Adolph are variations of the same name, even in German.

Bit of speculation on Yakovleva.  It might be the female version of 
Jacob, equivalent to Jacobina (Yakov is a Russian / Hebrew variant of 
Jacob).  A second possibility is that it is her maiden name as a 
GOOGLE search suggests that it is a relatively common Russian 
surname.  This may be unlikely if you have already determined that 
she has Germanic origins.  A third option, assuming she is still 
single in this document, is that it is intended to be her father's 
name - that is, her father is Jacob Mayer(t).  Many Russian documents 
show the name of the individual followed by the name of the father 
and finally the surname.




Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca