Hello Karen,
You probably need this little German lesson (1st step, don't worry) while checking the German ancestry data on ANCESTRY or elsewhere.
Feel free to ask me whenever you have a question about that!
You probably need this little German lesson (1st step, don't worry) while checking the German ancestry data on ANCESTRY or elsewhere.
Feel free to ask me whenever you have a question about that!
Special German letters
1) The grapheme ß, called Eszett ("sharp S")
The grapheme ß, called Eszett ("sharp S"), represents the [s] phoneme in Standard German, specifically when following long vowels and diphthongs, while ss is used after short vowels. The name Eszett combines the names of the letters of s (Es) and z (Zett) in German. The character's Unicode names in English are sharp s and eszett.
My mother's last name Theiß (how to pronounce) is spelled with such a "sharp s" - but sometimes you also see the substitute "ss" as it sounds similar - the international spelling of Theiß is Theiss as the special character does not exist. It sounds equal!
BUT in my humble opinion, dropping one "s" = Theis, is somehow not correct, not sure if there's a name Theis in Germany as well.
Some "Theiß families" in Wahnwegen, where my grandfather was born have all the same spelling! See the screenshot of a phonebook below!
For further details about the ß check this link here
2) Umlaute
There's another special letter which causes a confusion sometimes but I promise it's pretty easy if you pay attention to the rules.
Germanic Umlaute are: Ä, ä, Ö, ö and Ü, ü -> that's all!
Example: my name Jürgen Feldmann (German spelling with Umlaut) becomes Juergen Feldmann (like on my credit card)!
valid substitute: (please note the first character of a noun in German is capitalized!)
1) The grapheme ß, called Eszett ("sharp S")
The grapheme ß, called Eszett ("sharp S"), represents the [s] phoneme in Standard German, specifically when following long vowels and diphthongs, while ss is used after short vowels. The name Eszett combines the names of the letters of s (Es) and z (Zett) in German. The character's Unicode names in English are sharp s and eszett.
My mother's last name Theiß (how to pronounce) is spelled with such a "sharp s" - but sometimes you also see the substitute "ss" as it sounds similar - the international spelling of Theiß is Theiss as the special character does not exist. It sounds equal!
BUT in my humble opinion, dropping one "s" = Theis, is somehow not correct, not sure if there's a name Theis in Germany as well.
Some "Theiß families" in Wahnwegen, where my grandfather was born have all the same spelling! See the screenshot of a phonebook below!
For further details about the ß check this link here
2) Umlaute
There's another special letter which causes a confusion sometimes but I promise it's pretty easy if you pay attention to the rules.
Germanic Umlaute are: Ä, ä, Ö, ö and Ü, ü -> that's all!
Example: my name Jürgen Feldmann (German spelling with Umlaut) becomes Juergen Feldmann (like on my credit card)!
valid substitute: (please note the first character of a noun in German is capitalized!)
| Ä = Ae | ä = ae | Ö = Oe | ö = oe | Ü = Ue | ü = ue |
but to replace Ä -> A OR ä -> a is wrong!
So simply dropping the two dots does not make sense in German!
Example:
Krähenhöhle = Kraehenhoehle (correct!), Krahenhohle (this spelling does not make sense!)
For further details about the Umlaute check this link here
Example:
Krähenhöhle = Kraehenhoehle (correct!), Krahenhohle (this spelling does not make sense!)
For further details about the Umlaute check this link here
Here's a little entertaining video about German vs. English, just to relax and smile a bit