[ANSTHRLD] German naming ?

[Derek Wilson]

Not really a herald here but I just researched my German name and it started
out as Dietrich von Waldorf. During my research I discovered that in the
1100's to 1300's Von was not as prevalent as adding "er" to the last name to
denote locatives. So I ended up with Diethelm Waltorfer (Waltorf being an
earlier form of Waldorf, and there are far fewer Diethelms than Dietrichs in
the SCA)

So for your time period it "might" be more appropriate to go with Isolde
Wittenberger.

Ld. Diethelm Waltorfer
Norhtkeep Archery Marshal

-----Original Message-----
From: Sara L Friedemann [mailto:liana at ellipsis.cx] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 11:11 AM
To: Heralds List, Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc.
Subject: Re: [ANSTHRLD] German naming ? 

Quoth "Christina Norman":
> I would like to use the name Isolde von Wittenberg and have started
> researching this name, hopefully for around the 1200s.  Obviously, the
first
> name is from the legend.  

But it's from an English legend, not a German one, at least as far
as I'm aware.  You still need to show that <Isolde> is a reasonable
choice for a German name.

> The last name I took from the village in the
> northwestern part of Germany.  What I am having difficulty with is showing
> the von as in Isolde from Wittenberg.  Can someone please point me the
> correct direction to look this up?

The fact that <von> means 'of' and is used in locative bynames is, as
far as I know, one of those things that is taken for granted and
needn't have explicit documentation.  Oftentimes, however, if you look
up a locative surname in Bahlow or Brechenmacher, you can find dated
citations that use <von>, and that's sufficient.

-Aryanhwy

-- 
vita sine literis mors est
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/
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