[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Surname-Less and usage of "VON' before a surname

[Günther Böhm]

GVLESS at aol.com schrieb:

>I did ask about the usage of the "von" in front of surnames and wondered if  
>anyone can give me a reason for this.  Otto mentions the name of Marlene  
>Dietrich as her having the original name of "von Losch"
>
Hello Virginia,
Marlene Dietrich was born as Maria Magdalena Dietrich. Her father Louis 
Dietrich died in 1907, when she was six, and her mother married in 1914 
lieutenant Edouard von Losch who died in WWI.

The "von" may be the title of nobility and originaly indicated the 
initial place of residence. But in some parts of Germany "von", "vom", 
"van" "von der", "zum" "vonzum" etc. are simply used as part of the 
surname. We call it "Bauernadel" (peasant's nobility). If somebody has 
been nobilitated, his name can be found out in the "Gotha" (Gothaisches 
genealogisches Taschenbuch der Adeligen Häuser).

>  I also found in my  
>research of the Bergstraesser name (the "a" has an umlaut above it) of a family  
>using the name even today as "von Bergstraesser" and I now recall even a member  
>of my husband's family, husband of his sister, as having the last name of 
>"von  Hagel" (though I think they spelled it as one word today - Vonhagel). Was  
>this a title or what?
>
"Hagel v.Donnersfeld" is a noble family, "von Hagel" not (see 
http://home.foni.net/~adelsforschung/faq1.htm ), which is also indicated 
by the alliteration "Vonhagel". I found just two "von Bergsträsser" 
(Kyra and Ira), both authors but not in the telephone register. The TR 
shows 221 Bergsträßer hits - none of them with "von".

>  The vonBergstraesser family lived in the Baltic  areas 
>and then in St. Petersburg at the turn of the 19th into 20th century with  
>the g-grandfather (of a living relative today) being a Russian Admiral in the  
>Czar's Navy.  So - was the "title" then bestowed on he and his family  because 
>of this position??
>
In the Amburger database of Germans in St. Petersburg there is a 
"Bergsträsser" pedigree but without "von". This must not indicate that 
nobody of this family was ever nobilitated by the Tzar but if so, the 
title of nobility was not hereditary. Frequently, honorable citicens 
received the nobility when retired and no more able to bequeath it.

Günther