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Archiver > GEN-DE > 1996-06 > 0834997484


From: CLaekamp <>
Subject: Re: German surnames
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 03:44:44 -0400


Dans l'article <4pot25$>,
(Lacorrigan) crit :

> I am having a time finding out where this family was really from.
The
>wife spoke German, but Alsaace was French at the time they should have
>been growing up (1830s), so why did she speak German?
> I really appreciate your help. Thank you.
>
>

The majority of the people in Alsace (correct spelling, German: Elsass)
have been speaking German (i.e. the Alsacian dialect(s)) up to the 1960's
(This is based on the sales figures of newspapers in the region). Even
today a translator is required in every court house. An estimate of the
families still speaking Alsacian today is 30 percent, although nearly
everyone born after 1945 speaks French more or less fluently.

BTW, I found 4 Buffs, 3 Lepolds and over 20 Leopolds ( but no Puff or
Liepold ) in the phone directory (the Le(o)polds only in the Northern half
of Alsace).

--Carsten L"akamp
Strasbourg, Alsace, France, EU
Strasbourg, Alsace, France, UE
Strassburg, Elsass, Frankreich, EU
Estrasburgo, Alsacia, Francia, UE
e-mail:
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"Duty largely consists of pretending that the trivial is essential" - John
Fowles
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"En Alsace, le Haut-Rhin est en bas et le Bas-Rhin est en haut. Une fois
qu'on a compris ca, on a tout compris a l'Alsace" - Les Scouts
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