Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-07-18
QUEER GERMAN NAMES.
Something About Their origin and
Significance.

Significanee.
In an interview which was published
recently an observing globe trotter told
many interesting things about the
names of the Japanese, says the New
York Tribune. Many of these, he said.
would sound queer if they were trans
lated into English. Names like Bloom
of the Rose" and Fragrance Of the
Forest" would excite comment if they
were seen on a business card or a store
sign in this country. Possibly he is
/ right, but these examples are no more
remarkable than many proper names
which have become well known TO
English-speaking people. The German
names in this country have been jug
gled with by the immigrants until many
of them nave lost their original form.
Some have been translated, others re-
constructed with a view of saving the
name and making it pronOunceable
in English and some have oeen recasJ
to hide their German origin. Thus
Waannenmacher (maker of tubs) be-
came Wanamaker; Riemenschneider
tSlIdD-GuLLCAt was GOuNSA leu 4uL'J
Reimensnyder; Bauer (peasanD be-
came Bowers; BlumenlAal (yale o.
fiowers) was changed to Bloomingdale;
Loewentritt (the tread of the lion) to
Leventritt; Knoblauch (garlic) to
Knoblock, and Suessundgut (sweet and
good into Seasongood. Krankheit
(sickness) was converted into Cronk-
heit.
The list of similar names would be
very large one. Many immigrants,
however, refust to AngliciZe their
names, despite the fact that these are
neither beautiful nor euphonious from
the American point OF view.
The names of the German Jews. if
they were studied by the man who paid
much attention to the japanese names,
would prove equally interesting. The
queerness of the names is easily ac-
counted for. Surnames did not exist
among the Jews in Germany and Aus
tria until toward the end of the eight
zenith century The edict compelling
the Jews to adopt surnames was pro
mulgated in Austria in 1897 and IN
France by Napoleon in 1903. Com
missioners were appointed to conte'
names upon all those who refused or
neglected to adopt them, and these
names depended largely on the humor.
the friendships or the degree Of greed
on the part of the naming commission
er. 1t was his power to give man any
III erc h
door often determined the matter. II
it was black the manwas named
Schwartschild (black sign) If red, his
name became Rothschild; if the man
had a brass sign he probably received
the name Goldschild. When a commits
sioner wanted to be particularly dis
agreeable, possibly because the fees
were not sufficient, names would be
given which would make the recipient
the object of scorn or ridicule.
Karl Emil FRANCIS, in a pamphlet on
this subject, mentions among these
names the following: Rindskopf (bulPs
head, Ochs (ox), Eselskopf (ass's
head, Groberklotz crude fellow, SAL
magen (sow BELLY, Wanzenknicker
tbedbug killer, Schmetterling (butter-
fy). Fresser (glutton), Taschengreifar
(pickpocket), Todschlaeger (murder)
Galgenstrick (gallows bird), Wohlge
ruch (perfume), GottIos (godless),
Krautkopf cabbage head and Ochsel-
schwartz (bulrs taiD.
The rose plays a great part in the
names If these upODla and this fart
is looked upon as evidence that many
of the Jews, when they were COMPEL
! ed to select names, were actuated by
artistic instinct. Rosenbaum, Rosen-
bach, Rosenberg, Rosenthal, Rosenduf.
| Rosenglanz, Rosenhaupt, RosensteIa,
and Rosenwald are among this large
/ family of names.