Black Mikey & Cabbage-Sausage From Meiningen Get Medals

[Paul C]

The term “genannt” in German names is perhaps best known from distinguished noble families which used this “alias” or “known as” to in effect simply hyphenate and thus “improve” their names, and/or preserving some lineage that had “daughtered out.”

Among the common folk, it most often indicates either an assertion of paternity in an illegitimate birth, or adoption.

Transcribing the Saxe-Meiningen WW1 War Merit Medal roll, in almost 23,000 entries, this practice has only come up 15 times:

Ferdinand Barnikol genannt Rebhan

Julius Eisemann genannt Rottmann

Hermann Hohn genannt Müller

Albert Lautensack genannt Keller

Louis Ludwig genannt Jäger

Reinhold Müller genannt Blech

Anton Karl Gustav Schön genannt Schmidt

Alfred Trinks genannt Beck

and

Theodor Wilhelmy genannt Hofmann

All fit the classic paternity/adoption model.

Ernst Schenk genannt Jäger, a resident of Hildburghausen, and

Fritz Jäger genannt Schenk of the same place suggest a strong if not immediately obvious relationship…

Surely not babies swapped at birth?

Just kidding.

Otto genannt Georg Sattler and

Willi genannt Schwan Dold

are examples of a FIRST name being “officially” … ambiguous? After all, if Mister Saddler had wanted to be called Georg when his parents stuck him with Otto, the German practice of using a Rufname would have covered that. Herr Pretty-alias-Smith, could have called himself Karl or Gustav if he didn’t care for Anton, by common usage. What we are to make of “Swan” Dold…. I just do not know!

But MUCH worse than Herr “Swan Carrotlike-foliage” (I can’t complain with my Swedish clans all being botanical too…)

What can we POSSIBLY make of this?---

Landwehr Gefreiter in Reuss’s 2nd Landsturm Infantry Battalion Gera XI/25 and glass-blower back home in Lauscha, Albin Köhler already had an odd combination of names, if you think about it. “White Charcoal-burner” isn’t particularly appealing, if you ponder that literally.

But “Albin Köhler genannt Schwarzer Michel”—“Albin Köhler known as/alias Black Mikey”??!!

OFFICIALLY ENTERED, yet!?

As in—doubtless entered that way on his “SMM” award document????

“Black Mikey?”

Company commander to platoon leader: “Sergeant, this is a job for no ordinary soldier. Send for Private First Class Black Mikey!”

Or this bizarre entry—

0n 2 July 1918 Wehrmann in the 4th Company of Landwehr Infantry Regiment 383/ wood-worker from Neuenbau Sattelpass “Karl genannt Krautwurst Welsch I”

“Charles alias Cabbage-sausage Foreigner”? Numbered I to distinguish HIM from the OTHER Welschs II, III, IV and so on? Who were nicknamed… God alone knows what.

Battalion commander at awards ceremony “… and in the name of his Ducal Highness, I bestow upon you, er, ah, Cabbage-sausage, er, uh…”

WHAT WAS GOING ON IN MEININGEN ???

My thanks to Paul for posting this for me since I am not online. Rick Research (pronounced raySHARE-shay—Carpatho-Ruthene for Incredibly-Good-Looking)

[Wild Card]

Very interesting... and, at the same time :lol: :lol:

[militaria0815]

These additional names were not nicknames. Most come from the Middle Ages and were assigned to farms or estates. So for example the buyer XYZ of the farm named "ABC" got the name then XYZ genannt ABC. Instead of "genannt" one also can find terms like vulgo, modo, vel, alias.

[Les]

These additional names were not nicknames. Most come from the Middle Ages and were assigned to farms or estates. So for example the buyer XYZ of the farm named "ABC" got the name then XYZ genannt ABC. Instead of "genannt" one also can find terms like vulgo, modo, vel, alias.

Wikipedia sometimes provides decent information on subjects. In this case, the link below backs up what's said above, and provides additional information regarding German (and Austrian) laws on "Nachname" or family/last names.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:O15-TL4QbUYJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_name+genannt+german+adopted&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

I doubt the third reason for the five recognized legal reasons for changing a Nachname existed prior to 1945...

[TacHel]

Incredibly interesting... And at the same time... :lol: