Q&A: Abbreviations in surname
Subject: Q&A: Abbreviations in surname
In reading German birth records from about 1820-30
someone might come across of an abbreviation in the
surname, which looks as follows:
First Surname s. Second Surname
The meaning "s." is most probably an abbreviation for
"sive" = "or" or "aka", which is used most often in the
following situtations:
1. illegitimate birth. A child born illegitimate,
or before its parents' marriage, was known in official
documents by its mother's surname,often followed by
the father's surname, if this was known.
2. farm name. The custom of taking the name of a farm
as a surname is most common in areas of Westphalia
and Hanover.
However,this was also the custom in certain areas of the
Rheinpfalz.
Contributed by Michael Palmer
mpalmer@netcom.com
October 20, 1995
I have numerous individuals in my notes from the
church records of Offenbach, Pfalz, in the period
1700-1760 that have a v or vel between their two
surnames, but always in the same family:
[givennames] Garrecht v Gerach
[givennames] Garrecht vel Gerach
I presume that this "vel" is another form of "aka".
There is no indication of illegitimacy here, and none
of the other entries in these church records give two
surnames for other families, which leads me to conclude
that it was not customary in this region at this time
to use farm names.
Because of the phonetic similarity between the two
surnames, I've always assumed that these were simply
two forms of the same surname. Later generations lost
the vel Gerach form and were just called Garrecht.
Contributed by Jim Eggert
eggertj@ll.mi.edu
http://maceggertj.atc.ll.mit.edu/
October 20, 1995
QUESTION:
While researching some German church records I came across a
problem regarding a surname. Sometimes the surname is listed
asn name1 d name2 followed by the given name. An example:
Holzkotter d Hardick, Johan. Has anyone an idea what this
means?
ANSWER:
Without some context (name of locality; whether the church
is Lutheran, Reformed, or Roman Catholic; and whether the
record is a baptism, marriage, or burial) I cannot give an
absolute answer; however, it is probably an abbreviation for
"dictus", in which case it represents either an illegitimate
birth, or, far more probably, a farm name (i.e., Johann
Holzkotter, owner of Hardick farm). If you could post more
information on the entry/ies in which this surname formappears
either, I or someone else should be able to give you a fuller
interpretation.
Contributed by Michael Palmer
mpalmer@netcom.com
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