A German Colony in Jutland: the Evidence of Christian Names

A German colony in Jutland: the evidence of Christian names

Birgit EGGERT

1. Introduction Frederiks Sogn (Frederik’s Parish) in the middle of the Danish penin- sula Jutland has a very special history. The parish was established in 1760 and inhabited by German immigrants. The concentration of for- eigners in this parish came to light in an investigation I made in 2009 of the most common Christian names among Danish peasants around the year 1800 (Eggert 2009). At that time approximately 80 % of the total population in Denmark bore one of the ten most common feminine names or one of the ten most common masculine names, and when I mapped the five most common feminine names and the five most common masculine names, a white patch emerged. The map is shown in figure 1; Frederik’s Parish is accentuated with a circle. The white patch corresponds to Frederik’s Parish, and this means that in this particular parish we should find a very different usage of names from elsewhere in Denmark. This matter aroused my curiosity and inspired me to carry out the present survey. I was curious to know two things: which names were used in that case? And did this difference remain evident in Frederik’s Parish generation after generation?

2. Historical background In 1760, invited by King Frederik V, a group of 300 families came to Denmark from the south of Germany, mainly from the Electorate Pfalz and the county Hessen-Darmstadt (Andersen 1980: 62 ff.). Uninhabited sandy moorlands in Jutland needed to be cultivated and the German immigrants were offered a number of inducements to settle there. However, the land was barren and life hard: half of the immigrants had left Denmark by 1763 and after five years only 59 families remained (Nielsen & Bitsch-Larsen 1984: 32).

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Figure 1. The distribution of the five most frequent feminine names and the five most frequent masculine names in the 1801 census. The different shades give information about the frequency of the ten names in percentages of the total population. Map: Peder Dam 2008 (first published in Eggert 2009: 119). Frederik’s Parish is accentuated with a circle.

Popularly speaking these German immigrants are referred to as “kartoffeltyskere” (potato Germans) because they were among the first people in Denmark to grow potatoes on a large scale. The potato was the most important crop for the immigrants because it gave the best yield on the barren lands. They used the potatoes to feed their animals and to sell in the market towns, and potatoes formed an important part of their own diet. Growing potatoes in the late 18th century, the German immigrants had an economic advantage over the Danish peasants who had not yet come to believe in this strange new crop (Folke Ax 2008: 48-49). Most of the German immigrants settled in a single parish, Frederik’s Parish, while the rest settled in other places on the sandy moorlands

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of central Jutland. Frederik’s Parish was actually established for the purpose of colonisation. Prior to the establishment of the parish, the sandy moorland was a source of heather for firewood that was system- atically cut and gathered by the peasants in the surrounding parishes. This changed with the establishment of the new parish. The Danes in the neighbourhood were deprived of their rights and resented the Ger- man colonists who consequently found themselves rather isolated. Almost half the Germans were Presbyterians (Andersen 1980: 118), and they spoke a language that most of the neighbouring peasants did not understand; the Germans themselves did not speak Danish. However, the rest of the immigrants were Lutherans, who did at least share a faith, if not a language, with the Danes. In the parish church the German language was used for services until 1856. Thereafter, German and Danish services alternated, and from 1870 the sole church language was Danish. This indicates that, after about a hundred years, the descendants of the German migrants felt themselves to some extent integrated. However, the origins of these assimilated people remained clearly evident in their names. Some married Danes but as late as 1880 there was still much intermarriage among the descendants of the Ger- mans, and some of their surnames (e.g. Bitsch, Dürr and Maul) still survive in Denmark today (cf. Danskernes Navne 2006).

3. Aims and methods The survival of a surname over a century or two primarily depends on the number of sons born in each generation, whereas the survival of a Christian name is primarily a matter of culture. By tabulating the Christian names in Frederik’s Parish through censuses from 1801 and 1880, I shall investigate two questions. First: Was there a shift from German to Danish Christian names over the course of the nineteenth century, matching the shift from German to Danish language in the church services? Second, a more speculative question: what were the cultural politics involved in the choice of Christian names by long- established families of immigrant background? Were Christian names chosen as tributes to forbears, as marks of nominal resistance to con- temporaries, or as marks of integration into Danish culture? To establish a suitable corpus of names for this investigation I have used digitalized censuses made by the Dansk Dataarkiv (Danish Data Archive) in Dansk Demografisk Database (Danish Demographic

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Database, www.ddd.dda.dk). I have chosen to investigate the Christian names in the censuses from 1801 and 1880. The 1801 census because it makes it possible to compare the material with the nationwide usage of names in Denmark which I uncovered in an earlier investigation, and the 1880 census because it is the latest census available in digitalized format. The 1880 census would also reveal the name usage in the ten years after Danish had become the only language in the church in Frederik’s Parish. The search tools in the digitalized censuses are designed to iden- tify individuals; they are not satisfactory for identifying groups. It is necessary to know a part of each individual’s name to do a search, and that is why I have made searches for people with the known surnames of the German families that were living in Frederik’s Parish after 1763. Children were given their father’s surname, which makes it the most obvious way to search for the Christian names. Naturally, in the course of the last two centuries, descendants of the Germans have moved out of the parish, while Danes have moved in. The focus of the present survey, however, is the descendants of the German immigrants living in Frederik’s Parish.

4. The corpus The surnames of the German families in Frederik’s Parish have been identified by Valdemar Andersen (1980: 232-243). These surnames have been used to establish the corpus of Christian names in the parish, and they are listed in table 1 with the number of persons found in the censuses of 1801 and 1880.

1801 census 1880 census Number (spelling in 1801) Number (spelling in 1880) Agricola 2 – Bärthel 17 (Bärdel/Bardel) 26 (Bertel/Berthel/Bertil) Betzer 8 (Besser) 11 (Besser) Bitsch 24 67 Brauner 32 47 (Breuner) Cramer 13 21 (Cramer/Kramer) Dickes 1 (Dickses) – Dörr 15 (Dirr) 16 (Dürr) Frank 11 –

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Harritz 12 22 (Harritz/Harrtiz/Harrritz) Herbel-Schmidt – – Hermann 13 (Hörmann) 19 (Herman/Hermand) Herold 8 (Höroldt) 10 (Herholt) Jung 11 19 Krath 15 (Kradt) 17 (Krath/Kradt) Kriegbaum 11 18 (Kriegbaum/Krigbaum) Laier 7 (Layer) 19 (Lajer/Laier) Lauth 9 21 Märcher 8 (Marker) – Marquard 4 (Marqvardt) – Maul 6 14 Morast 7 15 (Moratz) Philbert 24 (Vielbert/Veilbert) 10 (Philbert/Filbert) Risch 7 1 Rost 8 3 Schönheiter 2 (Schönheitr/Schönheiter) – Wackerhausen 7 (Wacker) – Winkler 15 24 (Vinkler) Würtz 12 52 total 309 452

Table 1: The surnames used to establish the corpus for the investigation and the number of persons in the corpus with each surname in each of the two censuses. The headforms are taken from Andersen 1980: 233 ff.; variant spellings are given in brackets.

The Christian names used by the Germans in Frederik’s Parish were not unfamiliar to the Danes. Many common Christian names used in Denmark since the late Middle Ages have been German, or Danish variants of German names. Thus, the specific names from Frederik’s Parish do not differ from the general name usage in Denmark. The salient point is the absence of names of Danish or Nordic origin and Danish developments of names from the saints’ calendar and the Bible. In the corpus different spellings have been added together in some cases. Feminine names whose only difference is the final vowel -a or -e, have been added together, e.g. Anna/Anne and Maria/Marie.

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Similarly with name-forms such as Christina/Cristina, Margaretha/ Magaretha, Filip/Philip/Phillip/Philipp, Christoffer/Christopher/Kris- toffer etc. I have also interpreted a few odd spellings as misspellings in the digitalization process caused by hitting the wrong key, e.g. Ekisabeth for Elisabeth, Cathatina for Catharina, Jacon for Jacob, or hitting one key too many, e.g. Barabara for Barbara, and Danaiel for Daniel. In the following the names will be spelt in the most common variant form. One problem that I have investigated specifically is the abbreviation Joh., which is a possible abbreviation for both Johannes and Johan. The names of all of the men noted in the 1801 census with this abbreviation who are traceable in the next available census from 1834 are here written as Johan. I have therefore added together the 12 abbreviations Joh. with the occurrences of the name Johan. The abbreviation Joh. does not occur in the 1880 census.

5. Christian names in Frederik’s Parish in the 1801 census To illustrate how the name usage in Frederik’s Parish differs from the national pattern, I shall make a comparison between the top ten names in Frederik’s Parish and the top ten names in Denmark in the 1801 census. For various reasons the survey of the ten most common feminine names and the ten most common masculine names in the 1801 census concerns the first of each person’s Christian names (Eggert 2009: 91-92). For a methodical comparison, the same conditions lie behind the top ten names of the descendants of Germans in Frederik’s Parish. This means that in this part of my investigation, e.g. Catharina Elisa- beth only appears with Catharina, and Johan Godtfried only appears with Johan.

Feminine names in 1801 There is very little variety in the feminine names in Frederik’s Parish in the 1801 census. The top ten list shown in table 2 includes all the different names used for girls and women. These names are, with one exception, well-known and widespread in Denmark now and they have been so for centuries (Meldgaard 2007). The exception is Rosina which—in Denmark—is considered to be a German name (Andersen 1980: 243), i.e. a name that came to Denmark with the Germans. Orig- inally Rosina is an Italian name which became widespread in Europe

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Name No. % 1 Anna 60 19.4 2 Maria 21 6.8 3 Catharina 18 5.8 4 Eva 16 5.2 5 Elisabeth 9 2.9 6 Christina 7 2.3 7 Elisa 4 1.3 8 Magdalena 3 1.0 9 Agatha 2 0.6 10 Margarethe 1 0.3 Mette 1 0.3 Rosina 1 0.3 Susanna 1 0.3 144 46.5

Table 2: Female German descendants’ Christian names in Frederik’s parish in the 1801 census. The percentage is of the total number of 309 persons in the corpus from the 1801 census.

Name No. % 1 Anne 144,028 15.6 2 Maren 62,066 6.7 3 Karen 48,695 5.3 4 Kirsten 32,320 3.5 5 Maria 28,676 3.1 6 Mette 23,996 2.6 7 Johanne 21,711 2.3 8 Else 12,311 1.3 9 Catharina 12,223 1.3 10 Ellen 9,596 1.0 395,622 42.7

Table 3: The ten most frequent feminine Christian names in the 1801 census nationwide. The percentage is of the total population of 925,080 persons in Denmark in the census (Eggert 2009: 94).

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because of the character Rosina in Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville from 1816 (Kohlheim 1998: 242). At this time, though—in 1801— Rossini’s opera cannot have been the reason for the use of Rosina. The top ten feminine Christian names in Denmark in the 1801 census are shown in table 3. The difference between the German descendants in Frederik’s Parish and the most common name usage nationwide in Denmark is the frequency of the names. However, the same name is at the top of both lists. The most common name for women in the 1801 census is Anna/Anne: almost 20 % of all the German descendants in Frederik’s Parish, and 15.6 % throughout Denmark. Anna/Anne is far more frequent than the next name on each list, even more so among the German descendants in Frederik’s Parish than nationally. This might be because Anna/Anne is very frequent as the first Christian name in combination with two or more Christian names for females. The use of more than one Christian name for one person may be more common among the German descendants. Contrary to the top name on the two lists, the rest of the names are more equal in frequency, though the percentages decrease faster on the list of names from Frederik’s Parish than on the national list. This means that the most frequent 3-4 names among the German descendants are more popular than the most frequent 3-4 names nationwide. In addition to Anna/Anne, Maria, Mette and Catharina are also found on both lists. But while Maria and Catharina are relatively more frequent in Frederik’s Parish than across the nation, this is not the case with Mette. However, the most striking difference between the two lists is that the nationwide top ten list consists mainly of national developments of names from the saints’ calendar and the Bible: Maren < Marina, Karen < Katha rina, Kirsten < Christina, Else < Elisabeth, and Ellen < Helena. The German descendants in Frederik’s Parish use forms closer to the Latin forms of the names known from the Bible and church services: Eva, Elisabeth, Christina, Magdalena, Agatha, Margarethe and Susanna.

Masculine names in 1801 A similar pattern can be seen in the use of masculine Christian names in Frederik’s Parish in the 1801 census. There are more masculine names in use, though, since the top ten names in table 4 do not count all the masculine names used in Frederik’s Parish in the 1801 census.

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Name No. % 1 Johan 33 10.7 2 Johannes 24 7.7 3 Jacob 22 7.1 4 Philipp 14 4.5 5 Peter 13 4.2 6 Georg 10 3.2 7 Michael 8 2.6 8 Christopher 7 2.3 9 Friederich 6 1.9 10 Conrad 5 1.6 142 45.8

Table 4: Male German descendants’ top ten Christian names in Frederik’s parish in the 1801 census. The percentage is of the total number of 309 persons in the corpus from Frederik’s Parish in the 1801 census.

Name No. % 1 Peder 64,041 6.9 2 Hans 62,759 6.9 3 Jens 52,026 5.6 4 Niels 47,395 5.1 5 Christen 32,425 3.5 6 Anders 23,354 2.5 7 Rasmus 18,762 2.1 8 Søren 18,633 2.0 9 Lars 18,540 2.0 10 Christian 17,414 1.9 355,359 38.5

Table 5: The ten most frequent masculine names in the 1801 census. The percentage is of the total population of 925,080 persons in Denmark in the census (Eggert 2009: 104).

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The ten most common masculine names in Frederik’s Parish in the 1801 census are all well-known and widespread in Denmark, then as now (Meldgaard 2007). Johan is a German development of Johannes, and Friederich and Conrad are German names, but nevertheless these three names are well-known in Denmark. The top ten most common masculine Christian names in Den- mark in the 1801 census are shown in table 5. Among the names on this list Hans is a German development of Johannes, though this name is not found anywhere in the material from Frederik’s Parish used in this investigation. This might be because Hans is not a common development in the German areas from which the immigrants in Frederik’s Parish came. Like the feminine names, the masculine names at the top of the list from Frederik’s Parish are much more popular than the names at the top of the national list. Number one (10.7 %), two (7.7 %), and three (7.1 %) all have higher percentages than number one (6.9 %) on the national list. The percentages for the next names decrease more quickly on the list of names from Frederik’s Parish than on the national list. This means that the most frequent names among the German descendants were more popular than the most frequent names nationally. Strikingly, not one of the masculine Christian names on the first list is to be found on the other one. However, the most striking difference between the two lists is the same as for the feminine names. The nationwide top ten list consists mainly of national developments of names from the saints’ calendar and the Bible: Peder < Petrus, Jens < Johannes, Niels < Nicholaus, Christen < Christian, Anders < Andreas, Rasmus < Erasmus, Søren < Severinus, and Lars < Laurentius. Whereas the German descendants in Frederik’s Parish use forms closer to the Latin forms known from the Bible and church services: Johannes, Jacob, Philipp, Peter, Georg, Michael, and Christopher.

Naming after forefathers in 1801 The very high frequencies of the most popular names among the descendants of the German immigrants might be due to a tradition of naming the children after forefathers. In some of the families more than one child was given the same name. In this example from the 1801 census both Anna and Johan occur more than once in the family but are then supplemented with a second Christian name:

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Parents: Jacob Brauner & Anna Catharina Dirrin Children: Conrad Brauner Philipp Brauner Anna Margaretha Braunerin Johan Wendel Brauner Anna Catharina Braunerin Anna Christina Braunerin Johan Christopher Brauner

To my knowledge this use of the same names for more than one (living!) child in a family is very rare in Denmark. It is a custom that Andersen (1980: 243) also points out as a difference in name usage among the descendants of the German immigrants.

6. Name developments in Frederik’s Parish between 1801 and 1880 The nature of the sources and the organization of the digitalized censuses are among the reasons why it has not yet been possible to investigate all the Christian names nationwide but only the first Christian name borne by each person. However, the 18th and 19th centuries are the period in Denmark when the use of more than one Christian name for each person became very popular and I have therefore chosen to include all the Christian names in this part of my investigation. Traces of Danish influence might be visible in other Christian names than just the first one. Even though I cannot compare the total name usage in Frederik’s Parish with the nationwide name usage, I can compare the total name usage in Frederik’s Parish in both the 1801 and the 1880 censuses and this in itself is very interesting and significant.

Developments in feminine names The total use of feminine Christian names in the corpus from Frede- rik’s Parish in the 1801 census is shown in table 6. A few differences from table 2 come to light: Barbara has been added; it occurs only as a second Christian name. The number of occurrences of Catha- rina, Maria and especially Margaretha has increased significantly because these names are popular as second Christian names. On a smaller scale the same applies to Christina, Elisabeth, Magdalena and Rosina.

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Feminine Christian names in 1801 Total No. of names Name no. 1st 2nd 3rd 1 Anna 60 60 0 0 2 Catharina 43 18 25 0 3 Margaretha 37 1 36 0 Maria 37 21 16 0 4 Elisabeth 16 9 6 1 Eva 16 16 0 0 5 Barbara 12 0 12 0 6 Christina 11 7 4 0 7 Magdalena 9 3 6 0 8 Elisa 4 4 0 0 Rosina 4 1 3 0 9 Agatha 2 2 0 0 10 Mette 1 1 0 0 Susanna 1 1 0 0 253 144 108 1

Table 6: The total number of feminine Christian names in the corpus from Frederik’s Parish in the 1801 census. It includes 14 different names and a total of 253 names, borne by 144 females.

Feminine Christian names in 1880 Total No. of names Name no. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1 Marie 99 60 39 0 0 2 Ane 59 59 0 0 0 3 Katrine 53 11 37 5 0 4 Margrethe 52 0 49 3 0 5 Eva 25 25 0 0 0 Christine 25 5 18 2 0 6 Kirstine 17 2 12 2 1 7 Magdalene 16 3 11 2 0 8 Elisabeth 15 5 8 2 0 9 Susanne 9 9 0 0 0 10 Johanne 6 6 0 0 0

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11 Barbara 5 0 4 1 0 Elise 5 3 2 0 0 Frederikke 5 1 4 0 0 Jensine 5 4 1 0 0 Petrine 5 1 4 0 0 12 Mette 4 4 0 0 0 13 Ellen 3 3 0 0 0 Else 3 3 0 0 0 Jacobine 3 0 2 1 0 Maren 3 2 1 0 0 14 Bodil 2 2 0 0 0 Christiane 2 1 1 0 0 Nielsine 2 2 0 0 0 Petrea 2 2 0 0 0 Philipmine 2 1 1 0 0 Sørine 2 0 2 0 0 15 Agnete 1 1 0 0 0 Amalie 1 0 0 1 0 Anine 1 1 0 0 0 Birte 1 1 0 0 0 Dorothea 1 1 0 0 0 Helene 1 1 0 0 0 Juliane 1 0 1 0 0 Karen 1 1 0 0 0 Karoline 1 0 1 0 0 Laura 1 1 0 0 0 Laurine 1 0 0 1 0 Line 1 1 0 0 0 Louise 1 1 0 0 0 Martine 1 1 0 0 0 Sidse 1 1 0 0 0 Trine 1 1 0 0 0 445 226 198 20 1

Table 7: The total number of feminine Christian names in the corpus from Frederik’s Parish in the 1880 census. It includes 43 different names and a total of 445 names, borne by 226 females.

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Table 7 shows the total use of feminine Christian names used in Frederik’s Parish in the 1880 census. The number of names has increased drastically compared with the 1801 census. This might be because the population in the parish has increased, as the population did nationally. In the 1801 census 14 different feminine Christian names occur; in the 1880 census 43 different feminine Christian names occur. The number of Christian names for each person has increased very little: in the 1801 census the women had 1.8 names on average per person, and in the 1880 census they had 1.9 names on average per person. Many of the names used in both censuses have developed a more Danish spelling by the 1880 census: Anna > Ane, Catharina > Katrine, Magdalena > Magdalene, Margaretha > Margrethe, Maria > Marie, and Susanna > Susanne. As these names reflect, K- used for C- and -e used instead of -a are typical Danish spellings of names. We cannot take this as showing that the German descendants were coming closer to a Danish identity; it only reflects that the church language employed in the parish, and with that the official language of the community, had become Danish. There are, however, some feminine Christian names in the 1880 census that do show a change of affiliation among the descendants of German immigrants. One name, Bodil, is a Danish form developed from the Nordic name Bothild. We also see Danish developments of names from the saints’ calendar and the Bible: Birte < Birgitta, Ellen < Helena, Else < Elisabeth, Karen < Katharina, Kirstine < Christina, Maren < Marina, and Sidse < Cecilia (Meldgaard 2007). Together with these names should be mentioned the feminine derivations of Danish developments of masculine names from the saints’ calendar and the Bible: Jensine (Jens < Johannes), Nielsine (Niels < Nicho- laus), and Sørine (Søren < Severinus). Danish developments of Nor- dic names as well as Danish developments of names from the saints’ calendar and the Bible will also be referred to as “Danish names” below.

Developments in masculine names The total list of masculine Christian names in the corpus from Frede- rik’s Parish in the 1801 census is shown in table 8. Fifteen names have been added to the names found in table 4 above. Twelve of these are comparatively rare names: Adam, Andreas, Christian, Daniel, Hinrich

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(~ Heinrich), Lehnhard (~ Leonhard), Matthias, Michel, Nicolay, Sebastian, Siegmund and Thomas. Three of the fifteen added names are not used as the person’s first Christian name: Godtfried, Samuel and Wendel. There are no certain traces of Danish name usage among the twenty-five names in table 8. One doubtful name does occur though: Michel could be a misspelling of Michael but it could also be the traditional and wide-spread Danish development of Michael, spelt Mikkel today.

Masculine Christian names in 1801 Total No. of names Name no. 1st 2nd 3rd 1 Johan 33 33 0 0 2 Jacob 25 22 3 0 3 Johannes 24 24 0 0 4 Philipp 22 14 8 0 5 Peter 17 13 4 0 6 Georg 16 10 6 0 7 Christopher 10 7 3 0 Michael 10 8 2 0 8 Friederich 8 6 1 1 9 Adam 5 3 2 0 Conrad 5 5 0 0 10 Samuel 4 0 4 0 Thomas 4 4 0 0 11 Daniel 3 2 1 0 Lehnhard 3 2 1 0 Matthias 3 3 0 0 12 Andreas 2 2 0 0 Christian 2 2 0 0 Wendel 2 0 2 0 13 Godtfried 1 0 1 0 Hinrich 1 1 0 0 Michel 1 1 0 0 Nicolay 1 1 0 0

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Sebastian 1 1 0 0 Siegmund 1 1 0 0 204 165 38 1

Table 8: The total number of masculine Christian names in the corpus from Frederik’s Parish in the 1801 census. It includes 25 different names and a total of 204 names, borne by 165 males.

Masculine Christian names in 1880 Total No. of names Name no. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1 Johan 55 55 0 0 0 2 Frederik 39 15 21 3 0 Philip 34 21 13 0 0 3 Jakob 30 25 5 0 0 Johannes 30 30 0 0 0 4 Peter 29 18 10 0 1 6 Georg 20 3 17 0 0 7 Andreas 11 9 2 0 0 Christoffer 11 5 6 0 0 Daniel 11 9 2 0 0 8 Christian 8 2 6 0 0 Thomas 8 7 1 0 0 Jens 6 6 0 0 0 10 Adam 4 1 2 0 1 Conrad 4 2 2 0 0 Nikolai 4 1 3 0 0 11 Christen 3 3 0 0 0 Michael 3 0 2 1 0 Niels 3 3 0 0 0 Søren 3 3 0 0 0 12 Anders 2 2 0 0 0 Erik 2 0 2 0 0 Linhart 2 0 2 0 0 Samuel 2 0 1 1 0

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13 Andres 1 0 1 0 0 Asannia 1 0 1 0 0 Henrik 1 0 1 0 0 Jokum 1 1 0 0 0 Lauritz 1 1 0 0 0 Martinus 1 1 0 0 0 Morten 1 1 0 0 0 Ottinus 1 0 0 1 0 Sofus 1 1 0 0 0 Villiam 1 1 0 0 0 Vindel 1 0 1 0 0 335 226 101 6 2

Table 9: The total number of masculine Christian names in the corpus from Frederik’s Parish in the 1880 census. It includes 35 different names and a total of 335 names, borne by 226 males.

Table 9 shows the total use of masculine Christian names in the corpus from Frederik’s Parish in the 1880 census. The number of different names has increased but not as drastically as the feminine names. In the 1801 census twenty-five different masculine Christian names occur; in the 1880 census thirty-five different masculine Christian names occur. The number of Christian names for each man has also increased but, as with the female names, not greatly: In the 1801 census the men had 1.2 names on average per person, and in the 1880 census they had 1.4 names on average per person. A few of the masculine names used in both censuses have developed a more Danish spelling in the 1880 census: Christopher > Christoffer, Friederich > Frederik, Heinrich > Henrik, and Jacob > Jakob. As with the feminine names, we cannot take these spellings as showing that the German descendants were assimilating to a Danish identity; it reflects only that the church language employed in the parish, and with that the official language of the community, had become Danish. There are, however, quite a few of the masculine Christian names in the corpus from the 1880 census that show a change of affiliation. One name, Erik, is a Danish name developed from the Nordic name Eirik (Lerche Nielsen 2006). In addition to this, quite a few particularly Danish developments of names from the saints’ calendar and the Bible

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are found: Anders < Andreas, Christen < Christian, Jens < Johannes, Jokum < Joachim, Lauritz < Laurentius, Morten < Martinus, Niels < Nicholaus, and Søren < Severinus (Meldgaard 2007; DgP).

Naming after forefathers in 1880 The very high frequencies of the same most popular names among the descendants of the German immigrants are still evident in the corpus from the 1880 census. This means that the tradition of naming children after their forefathers is still a common cultural inheritance in Frederik’s Parish. It was also still possible for more than one (living!) child to be given the same name in the same family. In this example from the 1880 census Marie, Johan and Philip occur more than once in the family, but are then supplemented with a second Christian name: Parents: Johan Philip Bitsch & Marie Magdalene Bitsch (born Kriegbaum) Children: Philip Frederik Bitsch Johan Jakob Bitsch Eva Maria Magdalene Bitsch Marie Katrine Bitsch Johan Philip Bitsch

The date of the increase in the use of Danish names The particularly Danish developments of Nordic names, the names from the saints’ calendar and names from the Bible undoubtedly show that the German descendants had accepted Danish name usage, and this indicates that they have to some extent acquired a Danish identity by 1880. As mentioned above, German names have been used in Den- mark ever since the middle ages and the opposite conclusion cannot therefore be drawn from the use of German Christian names. The material can, however, tell us when the name usage indicates that a Danish identity had begun to develop among the German descendants. By looking at the age of the people named with the particularly Danish developments of Nordic names, names from the saints’ calendar and names from the Bible, it is possible to see when these Danish names began to increase. Figure 2 shows the percentage of people born in each decade that have been named with Danish names. It is clear that an increase takes place in the 1850s and onwards. This can be due to the war between Denmark and the German States in 1848-50. Denmark

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lost the war, and the following period was characterized by great nationalism. It was not very advantageous to be German at that time, and the German descendants could have had an interest in showing that they, too, were Danish. The fact cannot be ruled out that Danish was employed at every second service in the parish church from 1856 may have had an impact, but because that took place so late in the decade it may not have had a particularly great influence. The high percentages in the 1870s, though, could be partially caused by the fact that the church language was solely Danish from 1870. Before 1850 the percentage of Danish names among the German descendants in Frederik’s Parish is below 5 %, except in the 1830s when a sudden increase can be observed. I have not yet found any explanation for this.

Figure 2. Percentage of people in the corpus from Frederik’s Parish in the 1880 census born in each decade that have been given a Danish name.

It might be understood from the appearance of figure 2 that the use of Danish names began immediately after 1801 because the corpus from the 1801 census does not include any Danish names. Here, it is important to remember that even though the census can give us a picture of the name usage over time, it is at the same time a picture of the situation in 1880. This means that old people born at the beginning of the 19th century could have changed the spelling of their name over time, e.g. a man could have called himself Andreas in 1820, but Anders in 1880. In spite of this, the 1880 census gives us a reliable material that is methodically good for comparison, and this means that

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the increase in the use of Danish names in the 1850s is a positive result.

7. Conclusion This essay has traced the continuing use of Christian names among the descendants of German immigrants in Frederik’s Parish. The investigation shows that in 1801, after about 40 years in Denmark, the immigrants’ descendants still use Christian names that are different from the national pattern. This shows that the inhabitants’ traditions and identity differ from those of the Danes. This is shown by the high frequency of different names from those used by the Danes. The big- gest difference lies in a much higher degree of more “original” forms of names from the saints’ calendar and the Bible in Frederik’s Parish, whereas the most common names nationally are Danish developments of the same type of names. The specific German identity is revealed by the occurrence of German names. In 1880 many of the descendants bear a particularly Danish development of a Nordic name, a name from the saints’ calendar or a name from the Bible. The increase took place in the 1850s just after Denmark had lost the war in 1848-50 against the German states, and Danish nationalism increased throughout the country. The descendants did not give up all their cultural inheritance, however: in 1880 they could still give more than one (living!) child the same name in the same family (supplemented with a second Christian name). This must be seen as a tribute to their forbears. The conclusion is that the descendants of the German immigrants in Frederik’s Parish did shift to a more Danish name usage between 1801 and 1880. They felt a need culturally or politically to express their Danish identity through these names about 20 years before the language of the church services became exclusively Danish in 1870.

Sources & Literature Andersen, Valdemar. 1980. Alheden. Frederiks Sogns historie. [The moor. The history of Frederic’s Parish.] Kolding: Konrad Jørgensens Forlag. Dansk Demografisk Database [Danish Demographic Database]: www. ddd.dda.dk.

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Danskernes Navne [The names of the Danes]. 2006: Database: www. danskernesnavne.navneforskning.ku.dk. DgP = Knudsen, Gunnar, Kristensen, Marius, Hornby, Rikard. 1936-64. Danmarks gamle Personnavne 1-2. [Denmark’s old personal names 1-2.]. Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gads Forlag. Eggert, Birgit. 2009. Almuens fornavne omkring år 1800. [Christian names among the Danish rural population c. 1800.] Landbohis- torisk Tidsskrift 2009:1, 89-125. Folke Ax, Christina. 2008. Bondens knold. [The farmer’s potato.] Land- bohistorisk Tidsskrift 2008:2, 45-70. Kohlheim, Rosa & Volker. 1998. Das große Vornamenlexikon. Mann- heim, Leipzig, Wien, Zürich: Dudenverlag. Lerche Nielsen, Michael. 2006. Hvad skal barnet hedde? [What to name a child?] Copenhagen: Politikens Forlag. Meldgaard, Eva Villarsen. 2007. Navnebogen [The Name Book]. Copen- hagen: Aschehoug Dansk Forlag. Nielsen, Jørgen, Bitsch-Larsen, Stine. 1984. De sydtyske kolonisters bosættelse på den jyske hede. [The South German colonists’ set- tlement on the moors of Jutland.] Vedbæk: Forlaget Census.

Birgit Eggert Name Research Section Department of Scandinavian Research Faculty of Humanities University of Copenhagen Njalsgade 136 DK-2300 Copenhagen S Denmark [email protected]

Summary: A German colony in Jutland: the evidence of Christian names

In 1760, invited by king Frederik V, immigrants came to Denmark from the southern parts of Germany. Uninhabited moorlands in Jutland needed to be cultivated and the German immigrants were offered a number of inducements to settle in Viborg County. Many of the German immigrants settled in a single parish, Frederik’s Parish. Here the German language was used for services in the parish church until 1856. Thereafter German and Danish services alternated, and from 1870 the church language was solely Danish.

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This investigation shows that in 1801, after about 40 years in Denmark, the immigrants’ descendants still use Christian names that are different from the national Danish pattern. But in 1880 many of the descendants bear a particularly Danish development of a Nordic name, a name from the saints’ calendar, or a name from the Bible. The increase in these names took place in the 1850s just after Denmark lost the war in 1848-50 against the German States, and Danish nationalism had arisen throughout the country. For this reason the descendants of the German immigrants had a need culturally or politically to show their Danish identity through the names about 20 years before the language of the church services became exclusively Danish in 1870.

Résumé: Une colonie allemande dans le Jutland: le témoignage des noms de baptême En 1760, invités par le roi Frédéric V, des immigrants vinrent au Danemark de régions méridionales de l’Allemagne. Des landes inhabitées du Jutland avaient besoin d’être cultivées, et les migrants allemands reçurent de nombreuses inci- tations pour peupler le Comté de Viborg. La plupart des migrants allemands s’installèrent dans une seule paroisse, la paroisse de Frédéric. Là, la langue allemande a été utilisée pour les services de l’église paroissiale jusqu’en 1856. Par la suite alternèrent les services allemands et danois puis, à partir de 1870, la langue de l’église devint le seul danois. Cette enquête montre que, en 1801, après 40 ans de présence au Danemark, les descendants des migrants utilisaient encore des prénoms différents de la tendance danoise nationale. Cependant, en 1880, la plupart des descendants portent pour prénom une forme particulièrement danoise d’un nom nordique, un nom du calendrier des saints, ou un nom biblique. Ces noms ont connu une augmentation dans les années 1850, juste après que le Danemark a perdu la guerre de 1848-50 contre les États germaniques, et le nationalisme danois a surgi dans tout le pays. C’est pourquoi les descendants des migrants allemands ressentaient le besoin culturel ou politique de montrer leur identité danoise en utilisant de tels prénoms, 20 ans environ avant que le langage des services religieux ne devînt exclusivement danois en 1870.

Zusammenfassung: Eine deutsche Kolonie in Jütland: die Evidenz der Vornamen Im Jahr 1760 kamen auf Einladung König Frederiks V. Einwanderer aus den südlichen Teilen Deutschlands nach Dänemark. Unbewohnte Moorgebiete in Jütland mussten kultiviert werden; den Immigranten wurde eine Reihe von Anreizen angeboten, sich im Bezirk Viborg niederzulassen. Viele der deutschen Einwanderer siedelten in einer einzigen Pfarrgemeinde („Frederiks Pfarrei“). Hier wurde bis 1841 das Deutsche für den Gottesdienst in der Pfarrkirche verwendet. Danach wechselten deutsch- und dänischsprachige Gottesdienste einander ab, und von 1870 an war die Kirchensprache einzig das Dänische.

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Die Untersuchung zeigt, dass im Jahr 1801, nach ungefähr vierzig Jahren in Dänemark, die Nachkommen der Einwanderer noch immer Rufnamen ver- wenden, die sich vom nationalen dänischen Muster unterscheiden. 1880 dage- gen haben viele der Nachkommen eine besondere dänische Entwicklungsform, entweder eines Namens aus der nordischen Tradition, aus dem Heiligenkalen- der oder aus der Bibel. Die Zunahme dieser Namen findet in den 1850er Jahren statt, kurz nachdem Dänemark den deutsch-dänischen Krieg von 1848- 50 verloren hat und der dänische Nationalismus im ganzen Land entstanden ist. Aus diesem Grund hatten die Nachkommen der deutschen Immigranten kulturell und politisch das Bedürfnis, ihre dänische Identität mittels ihrer Vornamen zu demonstrieren, ungefähr zwanzig Jahre bevor die Sprache des Gottesdienstes im Jahr ausschließlich Dänisch wurde (1870).

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