Modern Usage in German Surnames and Alphabetical Sorting
German nobility, although not abolished, lost recognition as a legal class in Germany in 1919 under the Weimar Constitution, article 109. Former hereditary noble titles legally simply transformed into dependent parts of the legal surname (with the former title thus now following the given name, e.g. Otto Graf Lambsdorff). As dependent parts of the surnames (nichtselbständige Namensbestandteile) they are ignored in alphabetical sorting of names, as is the eventual nobiliary particle, such as von or zu, and might or might not be used by those bearing them. The distinguishing main surname is the name following the Graf, or Gräfin and the eventual nobiliary particle. Today, having lost their legal status these terms are often not to be translated, unlike before 1919. The titles do, however, retain prestige in some many circles of society.
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