GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS-L Archives

Archiver > GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS > 2011-10 > 1319143057


From: "Vera Nagel" <>
Subject: Re: [G-P-L] Off Subject But Genealogy Related
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:37:37 +0200
References: <CAJUwMBTuimkvDhy0pYXGW_wRRb3Zoj3YKT_rm=FVzPmfFSPrvw@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAJUwMBTuimkvDhy0pYXGW_wRRb3Zoj3YKT_rm=FVzPmfFSPrvw@mail.gmail.com>


Karl,

>Can anyone tell me how Whitten would be pro-nounced in Germany? Is it
Whit-Ten, Whit-Teen,
>Whit-Ting or ????

I trust you know "Whitsun".
When you pronounce it, leave the spelling of the first syllable "whit"
intact and replace the second syllable by "ten" (pronounced exactly as
the number 10). Then you're on absolute the right track how a native
German speaker would spell this family name.

Other than that my strong impression would be that we're talking about a
family most likely originating from any place in the northern parts of
Germany (i.e. Westphalia, Lower-Saxony...).
If so, the family name may have been "Witte" or the like.

Now let's assume (it's just an fictive example) a female's given name
might have been "Louise" -- full name "Louise Witte" -- she might have
been referred to as "Witten Louise" or in other words as: "Louise
belonging to the family Witte" / "Louise **of** the Witte family".
The "n" added as final character to the family name "Witte" is nothing
else but an indicator for the genitive case in which this family name is
used.

Best,
Vera Nagel, Germany


This thread: