For this note, I propose to go through the names in the Gemmingen index for the 18th century for the initial letter “ M ”. The sequence of the names indicates something about the first appearance. The register starts for 1696 and ends about 1818.
Massenhälder/Masenhälder, Müller/Muller/Miller, Muhläcker/Mühläcker/Mühlecker/MühlEcker (with a capital E in the middle), Mayer/Maÿer/Meier/Majer, Maurer, MichelEckher, Keller (misplaced name), Mahninger (only once)/Menninger/Manninger (the last is the most common), Michelhälder, Seelmann (misplaced also), Meerbeuhl (about 1723)/Meerbrei/Meerbani, Michelmichel (I did not stutter), Manheim, Marzmuller, Metzger (about 1749), Mack (about 1757), Michel, Michalt, Meinzger, Berg (von Berg, out of place, should have been in the “B’s”), Must, Mang/Meng, Maag, Murr, Mauch (about 1792), Maÿ, Mapger, Maff.
•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•
|
Massenhälder/
Masenhälder |
Müller/Muller/
Miller |
Muhläcker/Mühläcker/
Mühlecker/MühlEcker (with a capital E in the middle) |
|
Mayer/Maÿer/
Meier/Majer |
Maurer | MichelEckher |
| Keller (misplaced name) |
Mahninger (only once)/
Menninger/Manninger (the last is the most common) |
Michelhälder |
| Seelmann (misplaced also) |
Meerbeuhl (about
1723)/Meerbrei/ Meerbani |
Michelmichel (I did not
stutter) |
| Manheim | Marzmuller | Metzger (about 1749) |
| Mack (about 1757) | Michel | Michalt |
| Meinzger |
Berg (von Berg, out of
place, should have been in the “B’s”) |
Must |
| Mang/Meng | Maag | Murr |
| Mauch (about 1792) | Maÿ | Mapger |
| Maff |
•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•
Telling the Müllers, Mullers, and Millers apart is not easy as the mark over the “ u ” often is, somewhere between the umlaut and the “ u-hook .” Again, as in the previous note, there is a problem in distinguishing the lower case letters. The name Menninger seems to become later Manninger. This may have been a problem in distinguishing the “ e ” from the “ a ”.
Whether there is a set of names used for the same family as in Meerbrei, Meerbani, and Meerbeuhl is not possible to say. I have grouped them together as I think the name was probably new to the community (Meerbuehl), but with the passage of time the pastors seem to favor Meerbrei.
Why one or two names were often written with a capital letter, “ E ”, in this case, in the middle, is a mystery. The name Michelmichel was the first occurrence of a doubling of what seems to be an independent name. Perhaps because Michel was used as a surname, the family wished to emphasize that it was a surname by doubling it.
I receive the Mock Family Newsletter and I was surprised to see three of the names that they follow, namely Maag, Mack, and Mauch. There are some errors in the spellings that I have given, especially for the names which occur only once. When a name usually occurs several times, this gives one a chance to correct a reading. One wonders whether the name Mapger is a combination of poor writing and poor reading for the name Metzger.
A few names were very popular and occur many times in the index.
One of the names in the list above should be considered a Germanna family. For your homework assignment, you are to find the family.
(05 Oct 04)
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.