The German Corner: #2

Cranberry Prairie

David A. Hoying

      We have received several favorable comments on this new feature to the Newsletter. Again, we ask that if you have any questions concerning your German ancestors, please direct them to The German Corner, and answers will try to be found. [write the newsletter at German Corner / % MCCOGS / POB 437 / Celina, OH 45822-0437]
      Is it Henry, Henricus, or Heinrich? What form of the name should I use for my ancestor? If the name is found in English language records the name is in English, as in the Federal Census. The Latin form of the name is most often found in Church records. The German form is of course found in German language records. What form do I use? I think a lot of it depends on your personal preference. Since I use Church records as my primary source of information, I must deal with the Latin form first. Care should be taken with Latin forms of names because in that language the endings of words change to suite the context of the grammar - there are singular and plural endings, there are nominative, genitive, and accusative endings, and there are as well masculine and feminine endings! If I find in a record the name Henrici, I must recognize it has an ending (in this case the genitive). I do not take the person's name as being Henrici, as this is not the proper form. I need to return it to its nominative form, which would be in Latin, Henricus. This is the proper form of the name. Now that I have the Latin, which way do I go, to German or English? I use the Civil War era (the 1860's) as my marking point. Before this time my rule of thumb is to always keep the immigrant ancestor's name in the German form. This is the name that he was given. So Henricus becomes Heinrich. I also use the German form of names for the children born to that immigrant ancestor. For an ancestor who immigrated after the 1860's I use both the German form and the English form, putting the latter in parentheses - for example Heinrich (Henry). The children's name I put in English, unless personal usage has indicated otherwise. An example is one of my grandfathers. He was baptized Antonius. In English this is Anthony. However, he always used the German form Anton. So I keep his name as Anton. An additional section to be added to this feature is a continuing lexicon of German and Latin words that we may encounter in our research. We will start it out with a chart on Latin endings for names.