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Archivesdual given names used by Germans
There is a 'strong' tradition in my family that our earliest known ancestor's name was Absolom Willis, b. ca. 1775, probably in SW Va. Absolom married an Eva Sifers. Absolom is thought to be of Scotch Irish descent, and Eva is known to be of German descent.
The marriage banns of Absolom and Eva are known (m. 1804, by Rev. Stanger of the Wytheville, Va.) I am confident that this is the right couple (I can clearly trace their location through Tax and census records, as well as their children.)
The problem is the marriage record gives this couples names as ABNER and Eva. There are a dozen or so land and legal records for this couple in the Russell county area of Va between 1810 and 1870. All of them refer to the husband as Abner Willis.
But one does refer to him as Absolom.
Again, its clearly the same couple as in the marriage banns.
There's little doubt that the couple I'm descended from, and known as Absolom and Eva within the family, were commonly known as Abner and Eve.
A possibility is that Absolom had a dual given name---either Abner Absolom, or Absolom Abner.---Neither combination seems to sound well together. Also, the use of dual given names was just coming into general use about the time of Abner/Absolom's birth, at least amongst the English and Scotch Irish.
I've heard that German families used dual given names well prior to this date. What I've heard was that they used one name as an "Official" name for legal documents, and a "family" name by which they were known within the family.
While I've not heard of Abner or Absolom being used in German communities, I'm wondering if its a reasonable possibility that his family was German rather than Scotch Irish?
Any thoughts, and reference sources for German nameing ways would be appreciated.
Thanks
Bill
The marriage banns of Absolom and Eva are known (m. 1804, by Rev. Stanger of the Wytheville, Va.) I am confident that this is the right couple (I can clearly trace their location through Tax and census records, as well as their children.)
The problem is the marriage record gives this couples names as ABNER and Eva. There are a dozen or so land and legal records for this couple in the Russell county area of Va between 1810 and 1870. All of them refer to the husband as Abner Willis.
But one does refer to him as Absolom.
Again, its clearly the same couple as in the marriage banns.
There's little doubt that the couple I'm descended from, and known as Absolom and Eva within the family, were commonly known as Abner and Eve.
A possibility is that Absolom had a dual given name---either Abner Absolom, or Absolom Abner.---Neither combination seems to sound well together. Also, the use of dual given names was just coming into general use about the time of Abner/Absolom's birth, at least amongst the English and Scotch Irish.
I've heard that German families used dual given names well prior to this date. What I've heard was that they used one name as an "Official" name for legal documents, and a "family" name by which they were known within the family.
While I've not heard of Abner or Absolom being used in German communities, I'm wondering if its a reasonable possibility that his family was German rather than Scotch Irish?
Any thoughts, and reference sources for German nameing ways would be appreciated.
Thanks
Bill
1
Replies
Since Absalom (probably Absolom is a variant spelling) and Abner are English biblical names, it's possible that Abner was simply a nickname for Absolom and I would guess your ancestor's origin was Irish or Scottish as you first thought, rather than German.
1
Thanks for the suggestion. Much appreciated.
Both Abner and Absolom are independant given names, not usually considered variants of each other. Neither Absolom nor Abner seem to be names in common use amongst the Scotch Irish.---but then again, this site doesn't suggest that they were used by the Germans' either.
A possibility that has been suggested is that Abner might have gone by "Abs", and some, not knowing that his given name was Abner, may have simply assumed it was short for "Absolom". That however, is purely guess work.
Both Abner and Absolom are independant given names, not usually considered variants of each other. Neither Absolom nor Abner seem to be names in common use amongst the Scotch Irish.---but then again, this site doesn't suggest that they were used by the Germans' either.
A possibility that has been suggested is that Abner might have gone by "Abs", and some, not knowing that his given name was Abner, may have simply assumed it was short for "Absolom". That however, is purely guess work.
1