Friday, April 23, 2010

Is Dreiter a german last name?

i have a friend whos last name is dreiter,he wants to know if theres anymore out there and what kind of background it consist of.

Is Dreiter a german last name?
Sounds Germanic to me. Could be Austrian.
Reply:That is a very unusual surame. I checked out Ancestry.com and found two possibilities. One of course is German like we all suspect, but I found a gentleman in the 1910 Middlesex, New Jersey census named Jacob Dreiter who lists his birthplace as Hungary.





The only way to be sure is to tell your friend to research his line starting with himself and working his way person by person, generation by generation. This is the only way to be sure of where his line comes from and he will learn so much more information that is relevent to himself in the process. My maiden name is a name that people told me for years was "French", yet it wasn't until I started researching that I learned that my line was DUTCH and that my surname was around in the Netherlands before 1811, when the civil registry was set up and people were ordered to take surnames. I have even had Dutch folks tell me that my surname wasn't Dutch. Well, it might not have started out that way, but I have 300 years of history of my surname in the Netherlands. None of this would be known if I hadn't gotten curious and started the search myself.





I hope this helps. Blessings
Reply:I don't find the name in any of my quick check sources, including the ssdi, rootsweb family files, or ancestry facts. Not even google.


When I run into a name that rare, my instinct suggests that Dreiter may not be the "original" form of the name. One of 'my' names, Dolphay, came from Dauphinais. So, how a name sounds can be extremely misleading.


Your friends best bet is to get into some basic research, and track back on his direct lineage, starting with his father, grandfather, so forth. He would have to keep an open mind as to alternate spellings. At the point where he finds the ancestor not born in the US (assuming that is where you are writing from), he needs to focus on the specifics of that person, and learning exactly where he came from. His death certificate, maybe citizenship papers, census, or hopefully some family records (letters from relatives).. all these can be the key.


There are some good tutorials at www.cyndislist.com. Once he can confirm origin, he can also sub to mailing lists via rootsweb.com that cover most countries in the world.

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