German Names

WARNING: Do not cite this page as a reference. This page is on this wiki to make the content "searchable" and easier to find. If you find the information you seek here, go to the original sources to verify the information and use them for your documentation.  Contact the editor-in-chief, Sofya la Rus, if there are copyright concerns or other issues.  sofya at calontiri dot info 

Sources:

Academy of St. Gabriel "Medieval Names Archive" - http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/
Database of medieval names (from the Medieval Names Archive) - http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/database/
Archive of St. Gabriel reports - http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/archive.cgi

Laurel Name Articles - http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/
IGI Searches, batches beginning with C, J, K, M (except M17 and M18), or P are acceptable - https://familysearch.org/search/collection/igi

Dictionary/ies:

• Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (with dated etymology)

LEO English – German Dictionary. (WWW: Online Service by Informatik der Technischen Universität München, 1995-2003. http://dict.leo.org

Standard References:

Bahlow, Hans. Deutsches Namenlexikon, Baden-Baden: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1985.

Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Deutschen Familiennamen, 2 vol. Limburg an der Lahn: C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-60.

Kunze, Konrad. dtv-Atlas Namenkunde. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH, 2000.

Siebmacher, Johann. Johann Siebmachers Wappenbuch von 1605, special edition. Edited by Horst Appuhn. München: Orbis Verlag für Pulizistik, 1999.

Socin, Adolf. Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch Nach Oberrheinischen Quellen des Zwölften und Dreizehnten Jahrhunderts. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagbuchhandlung, 1966.

Localized Sources:

11th – 13th c. Names from the Abbey of Korvey, Saxony - http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/Stars/Old_Saxon_Proper_Names_from_Korvey.pdf

Die Hausbucher der Nurnberger Zwolfbruderstiftungen: aka Mendel Housebook (although it contains other housebooks), documentation of master craftsmen and their trades living in pension homes from 1400-1700. http://www.nuernberger-hausbuecher.de/index.php?do=page&mo=8

Langenscheidts Großes Schulwörterbuch: Deutsch-English. Edited by Martin Fellermayer and Helga Krüger. Berlin & München: Langescheidt KG, 2001.

Die Leipziger Ratsbücher 1466-1500: Forschung und Edition. Halbbd. 1_ ( http://books.google.de/books?id=aSap5ubXyI8C )

Naumann, Horst, ed. Familiennamenbuch. Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut, 1989.

Online inventory of the holdings of the State Archives of Canton Bern (Switzerland)

Der Rat der Stadt Lübeck im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert. (13th and 14th Century Lubeck City Council Members) Publisher Schmidt-Römhild (June 1, 2002)

High German:

• Talan Gwynek's "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia" (http://heraldry.sca.org/names/bahlow_v.htm). Silesia overlaps southeastern Germany, southwestern Poland, and the eastern Czech Republic so some names are Slavic or at least show Slavic influence, so a few names are not typical for the rest of Germany.
• "German Names from Nürnberg, 1497" by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (http://heraldry.sca.org/names/german/nurnberg1497.html) records the names of thousands of people, both given names and family names.
• "German Names from Rottweil, Baden-Württemberg, 1441" by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/rottweil1441.html) gives the names of 1350 men and women, both given names and family names

Low German:

• Aryanhwy merch Catmael "15th Century Low German Men's Names from Mecklenburg" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/mecklenburg.html).

Placenames:

• Berger, Dieter. Geographische Namen in Deutschland: Herkunft und Bedeutung der Namen von Ländern, Städten, Bergen und Gewässern, Mannheim. Dudenverlag, 1999.

• Hanseatic League Cities - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League

• Meyers Gazeteer - https://www.meyersgaz.org/ "Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des deutschen Reichs: This is the most important of all German gazetteers. The goal of the Meyer’s compilers was to list every place name in the German Empire (1871-1918)."

• See also Maps

SENA Appendix A: Patterns That Do Not Need Further Documentation...

http://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#AppendixA (as of 12 October 2013)

German

	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/ Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order
German	Yes	Adjectival (common), marked, and inn signs	Unmarked, rarely marked	Women may use feminine form (see notes)	Yes; usually without articles	Early (see Latinizednames)	Rare; second byname is usually locative or descriptive	given+byname given+byname+locative given+byname+descript

Notes:

Locatives based on place names use the forms von X; generic toponymics use vom Y, or another form of der; the form de X is found before about 1300. Locatives based on generic toponyms, house names or inn-sign names use the form zum Z.

Women commonly used a feminized form of their husband's or father's surname, either by adding the suffix -in/-yn, or used a genitive form ending in -s/-z or -en. Unmodified surnames were also used. Further discussion of women's bynames can be found in Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Women's Surnames in 15th- and 16th-Century Germany" ( http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/womenssurnames.html ).

SENA Appendix C: Regional Naming Groups and Their Mixes

https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#AppendixCGerman (as of March 2024)

Regional Groups:	By Time Period:	Languages Included In This Group:	Can Be Combined With Groups:
German	550-1100	High German, Low German, Swiss German, etc.	Baltic Dutch French Hungarian/Romanian (per Sept 2012 CL) Italian North Slavic Scandinavian
^	1100-1600	High German, Low German, Swiss German, etc.	Baltic Dutch French Hungarian/Romanian (per Sept 2012 CL) Italian North Slavic Scandinavian

Precedents:

Precedents of the SCA College of Arms - [[1]]

Morsulus Heralds Website - [[2]] (to search the LoARs and Precedents)

Use the above links to be sure any precedents listed below haven't been superseded by newer precedents.

Collected Name Precedents: German - [[3]] Collected Name Precedents: Swiss - [[4]]

February 2015 - English-German Lingual Mixes

In September 2014, we asked for commentary on whether to allow German and English to be mixed, adding them to Appendix C of SENA. SENA PN2C2c states: > The name mixes name phrases from naming pools that can be documented as having been used together in the personal names of real people; for such combinations, the name phrases must be within 300 years of one another (and within 300 years of the documented examples). For such documentation, at least three period examples must be included in which the names can only be understood as combining from separate naming pools. The borrowing of names from one naming pool into another is not sufficient to demonstrate this, nor is the translation of names into another language. Commenters provided examples that appeared to show some borrowing of German given names in late period England and vice versa. However, these examples do not provide clear evidence that separate naming pools and naming practices have been combined. Several of these names are saint's names, or were borrowed from classical literature or the Bible, and were excluded from the analysis of the data. Other examples are popular across Europe in our period, so it is hard to tell if they are coming exclusively from German or English. In addition, we see the borrowing of given names, but not bynames. This can be shown in the marriage records provided in commentary. Both the brides and grooms have bynames from the same language, such as when Ludwig Tilbrok// married //Mary Archer// in England, or when //Andrew Weber// married //Margretha Von Leiningen// (the daughter of a //Johan Jochem Von Leiningen). We did not find evidence of English people borrowing German bynames, or vice versa. Lastly, allowing this lingual mix means that its use would not be limited to Early Modern English and High German. We would also have to allow the combination of Middle English, Anglicized Irish, Welsh, or Scots with Low or High German from 1100 on. None of the examples presented in commentary showed how far these name patterns extended into the other languages, or that they appeared prior to the 16th century. Therefore, we will not add the English-German lingual mix to Appendix C of SENA. However, we will allow the borrowing of given names from German into English and vice versa, in the context of the 16th and early 17th centuries. An English given name that is borrowed from German is considered to be English under Appendix C, and a German given name that is borrowed from English is considered to be German. http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2015/02/15-02cl.html

September 2012 - Mismatches in Appendix C

A couple enterprising heralds pointed out to me that there were further mismatches in Appendix C of SENA beyond the two repaired in the June 2012 Cover Letter. After consultation with Pelican, it is clear that in all cases of mismatch, they should be resolved by making them compatible in both directions. Appendix C has been updated to resolve all the mismatches. For reference, the updates are as follows (all are listed by Regional Group name): Hungarian/Romanian is added as compatible to German and South Slavic for both 550-1100 and 1100-1600; Mongol is added as compatible to Arabic, Hungarian/Romanian, Russian/East Slavic, and Turkish for 1100-1600; Persian is added as compatible to Arabic and Turkish for 1100-1600; and Turkish is added as compatible to Italian for 1100-1600. Please note that these compatibilities were already listed in Appendix C in the other direction; their omission was an oversight uncaught in proofreading. http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2012/09/12-09cl.html

WARNING: Do not cite this page as a reference. This page is on this wiki to make the content "searchable" and easier to find. If you find the information you seek here, go to the original sources (generally linked) to verify the information and use them for your documentation. Contact the editor-in-chief, Sofya la Rus, if there are copyright concerns or other issues.  sofya at calontiri dot info