Your Family Name in a German Jasta ?

[Olham 164]

You may have wondered sometimes, if an ancestor of your family - father's or mother's line - could have been

a pilot in a German Jasta or Marine Feldjasta.

Ras came up with that question, and I will search through the two lists in the book "The Jasta Pilots" by

Norman Franks, Frank Bailey and Rick Duiven.

This is mainly interesting for Americans, who have European ancestors. But even some English or French

names may have German roots - in my Jasta, my second wingman's name is "Winslowe" - a name that

also appears in Great Britain.

Some names have a meaning, which can be translated. "Cook" would be "Koch" for example, and there are

8 "Koch" listed.

 

I don't mean, that he really had to be a Jasta pilot - only, if the name appeared somewhere, so it might be more

imaginable for you, that it could have been so, and make you start a German campaign in that Jasta, where

the name appeared. (Many will of course be disappointed, if their names are not listed).

 

If you are interested, send me 4 - 5 names; I'll check it for you then.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Olham

[+Stary 2,426]

My grandma had german maiden name

 

edit:

or was it Jewish?

Edited July 1, 2010 by Stary

[Creaghorn 10]

You may have wondered sometimes, if an ancestor of your family - father's or mother's line - could have been

a pilot in a German Jasta or Marine Feldjasta.

Ras came up with that question, and I will search through the two lists in the book "The Jasta Pilots" by

Norman Franks, Frank Bailey and Rick Duiven.

This is mainly interesting for Americans, who have European ancestors. But even some English or French

names may have German roots - in my Jasta, my second wingman's name is "Winslowe" - a name that

also appears in Great Britain.

Some names have a meaning, which can be translated. "Cook" would be "Koch" for example, and there are

8 "Koch" listed.

 

I don't mean, that he really had to be a Jasta pilot - only, if the name appeared somewhere, so it might be more

imaginable for you, that it could have been so, and make you start a German campaign in that Jasta, where

the name appeared. (Many will of course be disappointed, if their names are not listed).

 

If you are interested, send me 4 - 5 names; I'll check it for you then.

 

is there KuK also included? i doubt it, but if, then some ancestor might only have been flying for austria-hungary. there were couple of croatian pilots back then, flying for them.

[Olham 164]

Stary, Jewish and German don't exclude each other (although the Nazis tried to force that to happen).

There were times, when Jewish people lived their German lives, just like Huguenots and other minorities.

And there are Jewish communities again here, at least in Berlin, where they have their most grand synagoge.

If you give me the name, I can check for a pilot bearing it.

Creaghorn, KuK pilots are not included. But if your name has a meaning, you could give me the German word.

[Ras 0]

Olham, thanks for the help. You helped me with the meaning of "Duesterhoeft" some time ago. would you check that name and the name "Seefeldt". I won't give you first names because I have so many that might have been cousins or uncles of my grandmother and great grandparents and etc. My wife is 100% German and the generation older than her still spoke it until their deaths.

[+Stary 2,426]

my grandmas maiden name is Knoll

 

and yes, it's German-Jewish, long story

[Olham 164]

Sorry, Ras, no hit. The closest is Lt. Seewald, Jasta 30.

 

Stary, there was no Knoll listed for you, sorry.

 

UncleAl is lucky, with that name no wonder in Germany - we have hundreds of Maier, Meyer and Meier here.

The name is spelled: My-air

So if you wanted to fly German side; here are all pilots of that name:

 

Leutnant der Reserve Reinhold Maier - FEA 2, FEA 10, FA 5 and Jasta 30

Unteroffizier .... Maier - Jasta 8

Vizefeldwebel ... Maier - Jasta 36

Unteroffizier ... Maier - Jasta 46

Leutnant ... Maier-Haake - Jasta 36

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

On my next pilot career as a Hun, I'm chosing as my family name either "Gloeckner", (because I know precisely for whom the bell tolls), or "Zeitgeist", (in keeping with the spirit of the times).

 

 

.

[Ras 0]

Thank you Olham. Would you mind a few more? Then I won't check on others as my wife has numerous names in her of German lineage. Some are all together too common. But how about Schlueter; Plamann, and Schmeling? Of course the last, might be as common as a Johnson or Larson in Scandanavia?

[Olham 164]

None of those is too common, and unfortunately none is in the list.

Schlueter would be most common, I guess, and I thought, that one should be a hit.

But it wasn't, sorry.

But you can compile a list, if you have more names, and I'll check them for you - no biggie.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Olham

[+Stary 2,426]

thanks Olham

my next OFF pilot will have this name

[Ras 0]

None of those is too common, and unfortunately none is in the list.

Schlueter would be most common, I guess, and I thought, that one should be a hit.

But it wasn't, sorry.

But you can compile a list, if you have more names, and I'll check them for you - no biggie.

 

Thank you sir. I thought that Schmeling like the famous boxer (Max) would have been common. Or did I spell it incorrectly? I'll do some looking in the genealogy and get with you. Much appreciated.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

On my next pilot career as a Hun, I'm chosing as my family name either "Gloeckner", (because I know precisely for whom the bell tolls), or "Zeitgeist", (in keeping with the spirit of the times).

 

No, no, wait... " Hartlieb Fruehauf "

 

THAT'S THE ONE!

 

 

God, I crack myself up. Really. I'm my biggest fan.

 

.

[Ras 0]

.

 

 

 

No, no, wait... " Hartlieb Fruehauf "

 

THAT'S THE ONE!

 

 

God, I crack myself up. Really. I'm my biggest fan.

 

.

 

Not only you, but I am laughing so hard.. I knew someone from Melrose, MN with that name though it was spelled Friehauf I believe. Anyone from Minnesota knows there aren't too many communities that are much more German than that area. I actually lived there from about 1956-1960 as a young lad, growing up with the likes of Ohlberding (as in Mark, the famed MN and then professional basketball player) and Ostendorffs and Hinnekamps. They sure weren't Norwegians with names like that.,

[carrick58 23]

How about Fred Smith ?

[Olham 164]

RAF_Louvert: No, no, wait... " Hartlieb Fruehauf " THAT'S THE ONE!

God, I crack myself up. Really. I'm my biggest fan.

 

Lou, do your people sometimes come in to your room and give you wondering looks?

Well, Fruehauf means something like "being up early" - not a name that would suit me

Ras: ...Ostendorffs and Hinnekamps. They sure weren't Norwegians with names like that...

 

No, these two could well be from my homeland, Ostfriesland.

 

"Hinner kamp" would mean something like "rearmost field", "rearmost land";

Ostendorff means "eastern village". You would be amazed, how many names have their roots

here in Europe and really mean something.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Precisely. Just as "Gloeckner" means "bell ringer" in English.

 

Or "Hartlieb Fruehauf", and it's translation to "hard love, up early".

 

 

...hee, hee hee, hee hee...and yes, I get the wondering looks quite often, thank you very much...

 

.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

I have a couple surnames for you, Olham.

 

On my mother's side, we have the name Keefer. Not really sure if this is German. Might be more English.

 

On my father's side, my last name Staub. This is definitely German and either stands for dust or dirt, I believe. Hopefully, my ancestors were millers or breadmakers and not "dirty" peasants or dirt farmers, or something similar. There is a Staubach falls in southern Germany, I believe, which I guess means "misty falls," so perhaps we aren't involved in dirt, afterall!

[MikeDixonUK 5]

I can't say I'm expecting there to be a direct "Germanized" translation of Dixon - although it'd be interesting to know if there was a German variant of "Richardson" (Dixon being a variant of Dickson, being a variant of Richardson) with the basic meaning being "son of Richard" - like how Johnson is "son of John", Thomson "son of Thomas" etc...

 

Or maybe there's a German nickname for people called Richard? Like how we call people called Richard "Dick" - hence Dickson / Dixon "son of Dick" (stop giggling at the back! )

 

Usualy when I make a German character in OFF or Silent Hunter or some such I call him "Michael Rikartsohn" or "Michael Riksohn" or some such generic guess translation.

 

(I'm affraid my parents / grandparents surnames are equally "local" and of English/Scottish/Irish origins as well unfortunately for this topic.)

Edited July 2, 2010 by MikeDixonUK

[Ras 0]

Okay, here's the list of the last (well there are a few more besides these, but they might not have been my favorite people)

 

How about: : Borkenhagen, Ehlers, Kohls, Kleinschmidt, Schroeder (must be one of them?) Wehrig, Klinkbuel, and Radtke?

 

THANK YOU

[NS13Jarhead 6]

Very interesting thread, Olham,

 

How about:

Yost (originally Jost or Joost)

Hockersmith (originally Hochenschmidt)

Schwartz (just plain Schwartz)

 

The other grandparent is Harrison, obviously a krumpet.

 

 

[NS13Jarhead 6]

.

No, no, wait... " Hartlieb Fruehauf "

 

THAT'S THE ONE!

 

 

God, I crack myself up. Really. I'm my biggest fan.

.

 

Maybe we need to start another thread on our "amusing pilot names". My personal favorite, which I have used about 150 times is "Otto Treiharder"

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Not a bad idea NS13Jarhead. My gunner/obs has been Sgt. Kenny Shewtum for as long as I can remember.

 

.

[Olham 164]

Lou: Or "Hartlieb Fruehauf", and it's translation to "hard love, up early".

 

You went into it even further I see - incl. the first name; your German seems to be quite good.

The old fashioned names can be quite amusing - Hartlieb is one such name; not used anymore, I bet.

There is another one I like: Fürchtegott (fear god). I wonder what sort of belief that was in the old days.

Edited July 2, 2010 by Olham

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

As far as I am aware, I don't have any German Ancestry...which is a shame, cos this looks cool

 

My Friend Eric however has a German Father.

He was a Luftwaffe pilot who got shot down over the UK...was injured, and kept as a POW...but fell in love with a Nurse here, they got married after the war.

 

His surname is Imerson

Edited July 2, 2010 by UK_Widowmaker