New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesDoris in early 19th century Germany
In researching my next newspaper column I've just come across a fact that really shocked me.
In the index to the 1850 United States census, the first to list all residents by first name, there are 132 people listed with the first name Doris. 80 of them (61%) were born in Germany! (One was born in Switzerland.)
Several of those not born in Germany were born to immigrant parents, and of the American born ones several seem to have been men named Darius or David where the indexer misread the record.
This sort of blows my mind because nowhere have I run across the idea that Doris was a name used in Germany in the early 19th century. One of the two German name dictionaries I own even implies that then name was originally "English." But this data seem to show that it was first well-used as a given name in Germany, not England or the USA.
I have looked briefly at the 1860 census -- a lot more of the records in that census refer to specific parts of Germany as birthplaces, and a very large number of the German-born women living in the USA in 1860 are said to have been born in Hanover. Mecklenburg and Holstein are also found -- so most of these women seem to be from northern Germany.
Are there any German name experts reading this list who can give me any idea as to how Doris came to be frequently used as a given name in northern Germany during or before the early 19th century?
In the index to the 1850 United States census, the first to list all residents by first name, there are 132 people listed with the first name Doris. 80 of them (61%) were born in Germany! (One was born in Switzerland.)
Several of those not born in Germany were born to immigrant parents, and of the American born ones several seem to have been men named Darius or David where the indexer misread the record.
This sort of blows my mind because nowhere have I run across the idea that Doris was a name used in Germany in the early 19th century. One of the two German name dictionaries I own even implies that then name was originally "English." But this data seem to show that it was first well-used as a given name in Germany, not England or the USA.
I have looked briefly at the 1860 census -- a lot more of the records in that census refer to specific parts of Germany as birthplaces, and a very large number of the German-born women living in the USA in 1860 are said to have been born in Hanover. Mecklenburg and Holstein are also found -- so most of these women seem to be from northern Germany.
Are there any German name experts reading this list who can give me any idea as to how Doris came to be frequently used as a given name in northern Germany during or before the early 19th century?
1
Replies
I checked W.SEIBICKE's "Historisches Deutsches Vornamenbuch", and this is what it says:
DORIS came up at the turn of the 18. century […], alias of Dorothea Lang neé Spitz, born around 1704, and of Anna Dorothea Lange, neé Gnüge, born 1715 in Eisenach […]; D. Gfn. Benkenoff, 1785-1857; Dorothee (Doris) Hedewig Leopoldine Grossmann, born 1793 in Hannover […] Christine Doris Wirckau from Elbing [near Danzig], married 1827 in Libau [Latvija]; twice in Göttingen between 1850-54 and 1880-84 […]; Göttingen 1856 …
Just to give you an idea …
It looks like the name didn't spread southward until the beginning of the 20. cent.: "ten times catholic and six times prot. 1906-1955 Flamersheim and Oberwinter [both near Köln], Mannheim 1911 and 1923 […] 1259 times in Stuttgart between 1929 and 1949, ranking 12th."
This movement seems to be converse to that of Dorothea which started in southern Germany (late 12. cent) and then moved north. Dorothée didn't appear until the late 17. cent.
Hope this helped a bit.
Andy ;—)
DORIS came up at the turn of the 18. century […], alias of Dorothea Lang neé Spitz, born around 1704, and of Anna Dorothea Lange, neé Gnüge, born 1715 in Eisenach […]; D. Gfn. Benkenoff, 1785-1857; Dorothee (Doris) Hedewig Leopoldine Grossmann, born 1793 in Hannover […] Christine Doris Wirckau from Elbing [near Danzig], married 1827 in Libau [Latvija]; twice in Göttingen between 1850-54 and 1880-84 […]; Göttingen 1856 …
Just to give you an idea …
It looks like the name didn't spread southward until the beginning of the 20. cent.: "ten times catholic and six times prot. 1906-1955 Flamersheim and Oberwinter [both near Köln], Mannheim 1911 and 1923 […] 1259 times in Stuttgart between 1929 and 1949, ranking 12th."
This movement seems to be converse to that of Dorothea which started in southern Germany (late 12. cent) and then moved north. Dorothée didn't appear until the late 17. cent.
Hope this helped a bit.
Andy ;—)
1
Link to my column on Doris
Thanks so much for your help. Here is the column as printed in the newspaper:
http://www.omaha.com/article/20120403/LIVING/704039989
Thanks so much for your help. Here is the column as printed in the newspaper:
http://www.omaha.com/article/20120403/LIVING/704039989
1
That does happen.
Sometimes names that have a long history in a country may be regarded as English imports due to extensive English usage.
For example, while Pamela was indeed imported to Italy from English literature, it was first used in Italy in the late 1700s, this being due to an obscure comedy by Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni which featured a character named Pamela. It's possible that Goldoni borrowed the name from the 1740 novel Pamela by Samuel Richardson. So it's not a recent English borrowing, despite what I've heard people say. I guess it's due to Pamela's popularity in America during the 1960s and England during the early 20th century. (I found Pamela's history as an Italian name on the Italian Wikipedia.)
I heard someone on here claim that Stella is not considered a traditional Italian name or even Italian, but I have found evidence to the contrary. I found records for many Italian-born Stellas, including a few born as far back as the late 1300s (one of the early Stellas I found was mistress to a Marquis of Ferrara). But I guess Stella has been so popular in English to the point where its English popularity surpassed its Italian popularity.
Leona is another one. Though Leona seems to be best known as an English name (and to a lesser extent a German one), it has an even longer history of other European usage. One earlier Leona I found was Leona Vicario, who participated in the Mexican independence movement. When I saw a website claiming that Leona was a 19th-century invention, I had plenty of evidence suggesting otherwise.
Some other names that are associated with English, such as Amanda and Melissa, have long histories of usage in other countries.
Sometimes names that have a long history in a country may be regarded as English imports due to extensive English usage.
For example, while Pamela was indeed imported to Italy from English literature, it was first used in Italy in the late 1700s, this being due to an obscure comedy by Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni which featured a character named Pamela. It's possible that Goldoni borrowed the name from the 1740 novel Pamela by Samuel Richardson. So it's not a recent English borrowing, despite what I've heard people say. I guess it's due to Pamela's popularity in America during the 1960s and England during the early 20th century. (I found Pamela's history as an Italian name on the Italian Wikipedia.)
I heard someone on here claim that Stella is not considered a traditional Italian name or even Italian, but I have found evidence to the contrary. I found records for many Italian-born Stellas, including a few born as far back as the late 1300s (one of the early Stellas I found was mistress to a Marquis of Ferrara). But I guess Stella has been so popular in English to the point where its English popularity surpassed its Italian popularity.
Leona is another one. Though Leona seems to be best known as an English name (and to a lesser extent a German one), it has an even longer history of other European usage. One earlier Leona I found was Leona Vicario, who participated in the Mexican independence movement. When I saw a website claiming that Leona was a 19th-century invention, I had plenty of evidence suggesting otherwise.
Some other names that are associated with English, such as Amanda and Melissa, have long histories of usage in other countries.
1
The university of Leipzig in Germany has a "Namensberatungsstelle", something like a information center for German given names. It is known as an authority in this matter. They list Doris on one of their name info pages:
http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~vornam/wcms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&Itemid=35
They say there that Doris became popular during the "Rokoko" (Late Baroque, 18th century) together with some other names in the wake of a type of literature called "Schäferpoesie" in German. Here an entry in a German encyclopedia from 1857 about that literary movement:
http://www.zeno.org/Herder-1854/A/Schäferpoesie
I couldn't find an English translation for "Schäferpoesie"; maybe "pastoral poetry"?
http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~vornam/wcms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&Itemid=35
They say there that Doris became popular during the "Rokoko" (Late Baroque, 18th century) together with some other names in the wake of a type of literature called "Schäferpoesie" in German. Here an entry in a German encyclopedia from 1857 about that literary movement:
http://www.zeno.org/Herder-1854/A/Schäferpoesie
I couldn't find an English translation for "Schäferpoesie"; maybe "pastoral poetry"?
1
Yes, that would be the English translation.
Thanks for the link -- I have been steered to some other sites already by people on the American Name Society listserve. It turns out that pastoral poetry was even bigger in Germany than England, and Doris occurs in some of the more famous poems, such as one by Christiane Mariane von Ziegler than Franz Joseph Haydn set to music.
Thanks for the link -- I have been steered to some other sites already by people on the American Name Society listserve. It turns out that pastoral poetry was even bigger in Germany than England, and Doris occurs in some of the more famous poems, such as one by Christiane Mariane von Ziegler than Franz Joseph Haydn set to music.
This message was edited 3/30/2012, 12:47 PM
1