Posts in April 5, 2022

My great-grandmother had a first cousin whose name was Fairy, but I never really believed that was her actual name. I had assumed for years that Fairy’s first name was not actually Fairy at all, but instead was Frauke, Folke, Feeke, or some other low-German name and that she had simply used Fairy as an alternative. My own great-grandmother’s actual name was Trientje, but I never heard her referred to as anything other than Tena and Tena was what she used on every record from her marriage going forward. Many others of their generation, born to parents (or at least a parent) who spoke a low-German dialect referred to as “Platt,” had names that were later replaced with English sounding nicknames, diminutives, or crude Anglicizations. But that was […]