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From: "Jay M. Osman" <>
Subject: Re: [PADAUPHI] Johann and Hans
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 17:31:04 -0500
References: <65.4074286b.2f5b66c9@aol.com> <001b01c521cb$558d79e0$6400a8c0@homep4>


Nelson,
Can you confirm or deny when the spelling 'Johannes' was used the parents
intended the child to go by that name - John - rather than giving the name
Johan Johan and then dropping the saint name. In other words the child to be
name 'John' was spelled Johannes and not given a saint name. I have seen
this claimed and disclaimed.
Thanks,
Jay

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nelson R. Sulouff" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2005 4:35 PM
Subject: Re: [PADAUPHI] Johann and Hans


> One reason is that precision of naming was considered unimportant in 18th
C. America. The colonies were under English law, which stipulated that names
were regulated by "custom and useage." The courts had no real supervisory
authority to require consistency or accuracy. Spellings went according to a
writer's understanding of the sounds that flowed from hearing a name
pronounced. The result was that spellings, like pronunciations, were
somewhat fluid and subject to change. English law continued to govern well
into the 19th C. As an example, I had a 4th great uncle who changed the
spelling of his surname from Sulouff to Suloff in the 1820's. In the 1840's,
in the midst of court battles to settle his parents' estate, he refused to
accept the summons of the court addressed to Sulouff, claiming his name was
spelled Suloff. The court came back with a new summons using his invented
spelling.
>
> In the particular instance that you cite, the first names Johann, Hans,
and Johannes were simply three forms of the baptismal name that derived from
the New Testament figure, St. John. Frequently the baptismal (first) name
was dropped and men were known in family and community by their middle name.
So you will need to be keeping your eyes open for the name, George Weiss,
without his baptismal name being mentioned.
>
> Nelson R. Sulouff
> //////////////////////////////////////
> ----- Original Message -----
> From:
> To:
> Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2005 12:47 PM
> Subject: [PADAUPHI] Johann and Hans
>
>
> I know that Johann and Hans were both sometimes used as a sort of prefix
> names in Germany. I have an instance where the baptismal records
recording the
> birth of all his children from the 1720s in Germany clearly reads
Johann
> Georg Weiss, but a probate document found in Pennsylvania reads Hans
Georg Weiss.
> Everything points to this being the same person. He has the same sons
on
> the baptismal records as on the probate document. Two of the sons have
the
> birth dates recorded on their death records here and there is an exact
match.
>
> Why would that prefix name be different?
>
> Neil E.
> California
>
>
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