Estate Names
In rural areas it is common that farmers are known by the traditional name of their farm or estate (which often has been kept the same over centuries) rather than their Nachname. Although the Hofname is not an official name, people know it rather than the Nachname. In cases where Nachname and Hofname are not identical (usually because there was no male heir at some point in the family history) they are joined in official documents by genannt (abbr. gen.), e.g. Amann gen. Behmann. In Austria the term vulgo (abbr. vlg.) is used instead of genannt.
Read more about this topic: German Name
Famous quotes containing the words estate and/or names:
“I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun,
And wish th’ estate o’ the world were now undone.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“A knowledge that people live close by is,
I think, enough. And even if only first names are ever exchanged
The people who own them seem rock-true and marvelously self-sufficient.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)