I never realised till I got stuck into my tree before that I had a great deal of Prussian ancestry, and also that the name Johannes and Johanna would appear in every generation until emmigrant arrival in Australia, not to mention all the other repetitive names. The repetitive names such as all the girls being called Anna Maria, Anna Martha, Anna Katharina, etc but they would be known by their middle name: Maria, Martha, Katharina, etc. Makes life very difficult for genealogists.

The website link below does much to explains the naming system, whereby the fist name is a saint's name, followed by another name, then the surname. All boys in the family will have the same saint's name, however, they will commonly be known by the second name. Same applies for girls. The most common saint was John (Johannes, Johanna, etc). Do look at the site as it goes into more detail.

German Names etc

Regards, Allycat, Australia.