Continuing with the variation of spelling in our names, the Broyles/Briles family in America originated as Breuel/Breyhel in Germany. These latter spellings are still found in Germany. [The John Broyles who reportedly came in 1724 was a mistaken reading of the Virginia records; the name seems to have been Bell instead, and of no relation to the Broyles family.]
The Paulitz name in Virginia had a closely related spelling in Germany, Paulitsch.
George Moyer was the immigrant to Virginia and several spellings of the name appear in the records. I am not sure how many of these survived to the present and perhaps readers can comment to the list on this point. In Germany, the name is probably found as M, (A, E, I), (I, J, Y), E, R which allows for many variations. Though Zimmerman and Cerny thought they found the family of George Moyer in Germany, I am not convinced the correct family has been identified.
The Motz family in Virginia, which left very few records, was apparently from a Motz family in Germany.
The Wayland name in American seems to be always spelled in that way. In Germany, it appears to be always spelled as Wieland. [There may have been more of a Wayland and Blankenbaker association than generally recognized. Jean Strand found a marriage in Unteröwisheim in 1738 or 1739 between Nicholas Blankenbühler, citizen and weaver, and Catharina Barbara Wayland. At about the same time in Virginia, Adam Wayland was marrying Elizabeth Blankenbaker.]
The Germanna Cook family originated as Koch, a name that means the same and sounds something like Cook. The Cook family also came from Schwaigern, a small town that sent hundreds of people to North America. Michael Cook had married Barbara Reiner in Schwaigern. Later Barbara's brother was to come to Virginia.
A suggestion as to the spelling variations to be found, and the frequency of occurrence of some of the German names, comes from the findings of Jean Strand. While looking through the records of Unteröwisheim, she encountered the names, Folg, Volk, Schön, Keiffer, Motz/Metz, Majer, Seiverly, Blankenbühler, and Wayland. This collection suggests that our names may have been distributed more widely than we thought, and spelled in more ways than we imagined.
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.