[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Dobberstein

[Spaghettitree at aol.com]

Hi Christine - What you are describing as name changes are very, very  
common, perhaps moreso with Germanic names (not forgetting all the other  
Europeans for one second) but if you research the sounds, [the German sounds]  
more than the spellings, I think you will find there is no single "correct"  
spelling.   There simply were no spelling rules until around the time  that 
civil registrations began in Germany, or its predecessor areas, around 1875  
or so.  Anglicized spellings were, and are, very common, so name  changes 
could happen very easily.  So-called standardized  spellings did not really 
take hold in the USA until around 1910-1920 -  and some are still evolving.     
 
 
George is correct that a formal name change would need to be accomplished  
through a court procedure, but that would have been (and still is)  
time-consuming and expensive.
 
Bear in mind too, that in many German dialects, the sound of "b" is pretty  
much identical to the sound of "p", hence many "p" words appearing under  
"b".   Same goes for "t", "dt", "th" appearing under "d" because  that's how 
they sound.    And - there are many, many, many  dialects across Germany, 
plus all the old ones now obsolete.    
   
There are numerous etymological books and databases around for surnames,  
which can get pretty interesting and sometimes surprising.    In  Hans 
Bahlow's "Dictionary of German Names" (English edition), Dobberstein  (Pommern): 
probably a place name like Dobberphul (3 times in Pommern).  For  
Dobbelstein: see Dabelstein.   Dabelstein, Dabelsteen, Dobbelstein  (Low German) = 
dobel-sten "die", the dice-player or dice-thrower.  See also  Däbeler 
(Daebeler), Dobelstein, Kolberg 1315, Lüneburg (Lueneburg)  1354.     
 
In Hanks & Hodges' "Dictionary of Surnames", Doppler - German  nickname for 
a gambler or occupational name for a maker of dice, from an agent  
derivitive of Middle High German dopel(stein) die (see also Tobel).   Varieties:  
Töppler, Doppelstein, Dobbelstein.    Cognitives:  Low German:  Däbel(er), 
Dabelstein, Dabelsteen.
 
In Otto Goebel's "Niederdeutsche Familiennamen":  de Dobbeler,  Döb(be)ler, 
Dabler Dabelste(e)n, -stein - Würselspieler (I think), -macher, vgl.  
Dreidoppel.   Written in fraktur.  
 
Hope you will search out original handwritten documents, to see where those 
 spellings originated and where they changed.    Some changes were  
deliberate, some were not.   You likely know that 'stein' means stone,  and 'von' 
usually means 'from' and is often omitted in U.S. records.  
 
Have to clean out the coffee I just spilled all over my keyboard.   Hope 
this helps a bit.
 
Maureen Schoenky (originally Schoenke) 
 
 
In a message dated 1/31/2012 8:41:13 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
shoning at q.com writes:

If the  change of name was made formally and officially, then it was 
probably done in  a county court.  I know of a couple of instances where petitions 
were  filed with the county court and the court granted the petitions.

George  Shoning

----- Original Message -----
From: "Christine"  <chrissy36_nj at comcast.net>
To:  ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012  8:23:12 AM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Name Changes

Hi  List,

Now that more of my ancestors records have just become available  on 
Ancestry
Via church records Pennsylvania my last name is spelled in so  many ways
Dobberstein, Von Dobberstein or just plain old Doberstein. When  my 
ancestors
came to America their names were changed to make them more  American but is
there any place I can go to, to find those records of the  name change..

Thanks,

Christine  

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