[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Naming of godparents

[Jerry Frank]

At 06:25 PM 18/11/2004, hhowell wrote:
>I have several complete translations of birth records.
>
>I have a question regarding the naming of godparents.  Was there a practice of
>naming relatives as godparents?  If yes, then was there a set pattern usually
>followed.
>
>Herschuel Howell


It is my opinion that naming practices of any type, in any culture, are 
inconsistent and unreliable for hard core research.  They can be used as 
clues for furthering our research but I don't think we should ever say, for 
example, that an infant is related to a godparent just because the name is 
the same.  The relationship should be established through actual b/m/d records.

Another example:  It was a practice from time to time, to name a second 
child the same as an earlier one if the earlier one died in infancy.  Yet 
this practice was not followed by all families in a community or a parish 
nor was it consistent from one generation to the next in the same family.

Naming practices would also change with cultural blending of families.  A 
Schwabisch German marries a Pomeraninan German.  Which tradition does the 
blended family use?  They would use that of the dominant partner or they 
might establish a new one.

I think it is interesting to note the naming traditions and threads that 
one can find in a family search but to pinpoint something as consistently 
definitive - I prefer not to do that.




Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca