The first name of each Daughter was usually the first name of the Mother. The first name of the Son was usually the first name of the Father. Often times the middle name of each child was the name of the baby's baptismal sponsor and they were usually called by his/her middle name.

The earliest are the names derived from the place of dwelling and the location of the homestead. If a person or family migrated from one place to another, they were identified by the place they came from.

The largest group and the most easily recognizable names are those derived from the vocation or profession of the first bearer. They tell you what the first bearer did for a living.

There is one group in which the name derives from the first names of first bearer and another where the names come from a physical or other characteristic of first bearer.

Finally there are names which tell you the state or region from which a first bearer and his family came.

The age old division in tribes and regions (low German, middle German and upper German) is often reflected in names. But for non-German speakers they are at first hard to "localize, especially those on the Dutch border and Northern Germany which sound very much like Dutch or English names.

Furthermore, if you know a little German, you will be able to recognize names more easily; if you do not know German there are a number of clues to look for.

Neu is German for new: Neuman(n), Neuberger, Nieman(n), Nauman(n).

If a name ends in -mann, -burg, -berg, lich, -stein or t(h)al, it is a likely indication that the name is German. But in certain settlement areas, these endings could also refer to Swedish and Russian Jewish backgrounds.

There are German place names ending in -burg (castle), -bruck (bridge); -furt (ford), -berg (mountain), -reuth, -rode (clearing in woods).

Godparenting was a very serious social responsibility, even to the extent of co-parenting to provide spiritual guidance, support and gifts for the child. Godparents also represented a social link between preferred families as well as using the individuals name for the child. As long as that child survived, the family could not call upon any other individual with the same name to serve as the godparent to subsequent children.

Around the 18th century the practice of assigning two or more names to a baby provided an alternative in circumventing this pledge. This practice of naming would frequently result in many people with very similar names so that many ´nick´ names were assigned in the village. The selection of godparents also provided the opportunity to forge preferred social or business relationships within the community

Did you ever wonder how to make the character "u" with an umlaut - - those two little dots above the u that you find in German handwriting? Well, there are special key combinations that are found on your keyboards of your computer. 

To produce the characters, you need to press and HOLD the ALT key (to the left/right of your space bar on your keyboard) and type the code on the number pad while continuing to hold the ALT key down.  When you let go of the ALT key, the character appears.

THE HOW & WHY:  In German research, you'll find these letters used in names like LÜDTKE.  When the name was "Americanized" you'll see it as LAEDTKE, LUEDTKE, LIEDTKE, etc.  These umlauts typically represent a vowel blend.

EXAMPLE: You want to use the a-umlaut, listed as ALT + 0228.  Depress the ALT key, and type in 0228 on the number pad, release the ALT key and PRESTO!