20 December 2012

A List of Frisian Personal and Family Names

While searching for something totally unrelated, I came across this listing of "Frisian Personal and Family Names" which I could just not resist sharing with readers. 

Regular blog readers may know that all my maternal ancestry hails from Ostfriesland--"East Friesland." This may help some readers determine the gender of names as those are indicated on this list. I did note that my great-grandmother's first name of Trientje is not on the list. My great-great-grandmother's name of Noentje is not either. If I come across any other lists of names, I'll be certain and share those with readers. 

I'm not certain this list is totally complete and there are certainly spelling variants not listed--Tjark was at least one that I noted. Some of the male first names did not include the corresponding family name which, given the patronymics that was practiced, seemed rather odd.

Despite those questions, this is an excellent list--especially for those who are confused about the gender of a name. 

Barber, Henry. British Family Names: Their Origin And Meaning, With Lists of Scandinavian, Frisian, Anglo-Saxon And Norman Names. London: E. Stock, 1894, pp. 32-38. Obtained digitally on http://www.hathitrust.org

Abbreviations:

m.--male
f.-female
fam.n.-family name (surname)
dimin.-diminutive






1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the list. My grandfather was from Sneek. I found his name Reinder ( or close enough) but I've never found his brother's name Koop on any list.