[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Surname Rance

[Günther Böhm]

>Could someone tell me if the surname RANCE was very common in Prussia
>Germany?  Caroline RANCE was married to a John LIPKE, and they were
>farming people.  It would have been about 1850's.
>

Hello Lonnie,
I think this is a typical case of American transliteration. There are 
just four events of RANCE in the German telephone register (probably of 
American origin), but the surename RENTZ or RENZ which is pronounced 
exactly like the English spelling RANCE, was indeed and still is very 
common in Germany. On many occasions German immigrants to the US changed 
the spelling of their names to keep the original pronunciation. One of 
my earliest ancestors was Maria Anna RAENTZ [RENTZ], born abt 1720 
Zedlitz, Schweidnitz, Silesia.

Guenther Boehm
of Hilden, Germany