How does one know if a name is German? The question is a good one which can be illustrated by an example. In the next paragraph, I believe we are talking about one person.
In 1726, Joseph Cooper patented 400 acres of land in the Fork of the Rappahannock (in the area of Mt. Pony). In 1728, as Joseph Kooper, he patented 404 acres on Potato Run in the same general area. A Barbara Cooper died in Orange County, Virginia in 1735. Jacob Prosie gave bond as her administrator in 1735 with Jacob Miller and John Vaught as securities. Her estate was appraised by Christopher Zimmerman, Frederick Cobler, and Charles Morgan.
John Vaught (he lived several miles away), Christopher Zimmerman, and Frederick Cobler were certainly Germans. Jacob Prosie and Jacob Miller are less certain. Charles Morgan was probably English. The question though is whether Joseph Cooper was German. The surest way of telling would be his signature but we have no examples of that.
The spelling Kooper suggests a German origin. And the fact that so many Germans were in the administration of his wife's estate suggests that she, at least, was German. Probably Joseph Kooper (sp?) was a German but we do not know for certain. At this point, we could only hope to find the name in some of the German church records, especially records where Zimmerman, Cobler, or Vaught were to be found.
Here is another name, Charles Frady. Is he English or German? On the surface, the name looks English. But down at the Hebron church they were writing one name there as Karl Vrede. Now if Vrede were pronounced by a German, it would sound very much like Frady. Or vice-versa, if a German heard the name Frady, he would write it down as Vrede. Another name at the church was Preiss which an Englishman would probably write as Price. So was he German or English?
One of the rules I use in estimating nationality are the names used by the person as neighbors. For example, When John Kains or Kines patented land on a branch of Deep Run, the neighbors were given as Christian Clayman (Clements), John Huffman, and Edward Ballenger. My theory is that a man most often lives with his own nationality. And when he gives neighbors, he is most apt to name people of his own nationality. The grounds for this latter claim are that a man becomes acquainted sooner and better with people who speak his own language. However, I am not sure about Kains. The spelling with the K also suggests a German as the name would more likely be Caines in English (I would think).
In the last paragraph, there was a Ballenger. This is a good English name (I think). But was Edward Ballenger English? An Andrew Ballenger was sued by Spotswood when he sued many members of the Second Colony. In a similar category is Joseph Bloodworth. I assume he was German.
I have thrown out examples or questions. I would appreciate responses as to the rules you use to estimate whether a man is German or English. Reply privately or to the list.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.