Does a German surname ending in "in" signify a married woman or single woman or does it just signify the feminine sex?

Question

Different books reach different conclusions about this woman.

Davis reports that she must have been single while Hunsaker states that the "in" demonstrates that she was a married woman.

She is listed as Gochnouerin on the ''Samuel'' passenger list.

Can one of our German specialists help with this?

Comments

It also denotes gender with an occupation - der Lehrer, die Lehrerin

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Thank you everyone for your responses. It is clear that the use of "in" on a passenger list in Philadelphia cannot be determinative of the marital status of the person.

Answer 1

I have seen the -in added to the mother’s name on baptism records, and the mother was married. I’ve also seen where an -s was added to a woman’s surname that ended in n.

Answer 2

I'm not a German specialist, but I have encountered several of these, and it's my understanding that the -in suffix was used in parts of 18th century Prussia to designate a female child, particularly in church records for baptisms and marriages.  Here are some refs that address the topic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_name (the section on Gender-specific surname variants);

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Germany_Names,_Personal  (Section 2.4.1)

Kerchner, Charles F., Jr., "18th Century Pennsylvania German Naming Customs and Patterns," 1995 - 2006, Para. 5. (www.kerchner.com/germname.htm)

We have had profiles here for females named Schmidin, Abelin, and Müllerin, for example, whose fathers were named Schmid, Abel, and Müller, but I haven't checked to see if they're all still present.

Comments

According to https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Germany_Project_Name_Field_Guidelines#Last_Name_at_Birth those should indeed not exist.

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This is an interesting question. I am sure I have not seen "in" as part of a surname.
Could it come from a regional variation of German language or the influence of a neighbouring country?

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I'm not questioning whether to use it in the LNAB. But she is listed this way on the passenger list in Strassburger. I'm trying to determine if it signifies her marital status. So far, the answer seems to be no.

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In contrast to what Flo said about the Germany Project, the Czech Roots Project guidelines say

"Use -ova (Czech) or -in (German) for all names regardless of time period or what's written in the parish record." [Presumably, this refers only to female names, as the paragraph preceding it was about names for females.]

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Name_Fields_for_Czech_Names#Last_Name_at_Birth 

Answer 3

It is just a feminine ending for the name.

Comments

Be only careful and proof if it is not a surname that ends on -in.

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No. There were and are family names in Germany ending with an -in.  Enzlin, Entzlin a professor in Heidelberg in the 16th century. Todays writing is Enßlin. Also Berlin is a family name.

The -in ending for family names is most common in southern Baden, Switzerland and french Alsace, the region with the alleman language. Ex.: Haeberlin,

And Sütterlin ist an older type style, most people today cannot read or interprete. Named after Ludwig Sütterlin.

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Hi Michael, all four of your examples are surnames ending on -lin, not -in. 

regards, Heckerin 

Answer 4

The addition on -in to a woman’s surname was quite common in some regions. I do not think it indicates marital status. As Flo points out, it should not be included in the LNAB although I sometimes enter the variant which ends with-in in the other names field.

Comments

Thanks Susan. Good comment. I have never noticed this and agree that it is regional.

Answer 5

The song cycle by Franz Schubert, "Die Schöne Müllerin," is often translated as "The Fair Maid of the Mill," suggesting that she is single. My understanding, however, is that in general, it is just a feminine ending as Culley states. Other examples are King and Queen (König and Königin), Duke and Duchess (Herzog and Herzogin) Teacher (Lehrer and Lehrerin), Actor and Actress (Schauspieler and Schauspielerin), etc.

See also this discussion: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/14338/feminization-suffix-in-in-german-etymology-and-relatives

Comments

Good examples of the -in in action. I've also seen Schubert's song cycle translated as "The Pretty Milleress". It's true, the titular maid of the mill is the unmarried daughter of the miller, but in this case the -in is just indicating that's she's female not specifically unmarried.

Like you showed with your examples, the -ess ending in English is a good parallel and gives that same kind of grammatical femininity as the German -in. As in, actress, heiress, temptress, mistress, hostess, and the ever-loved doctoress.

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The "-in" in action. Saw what you did there. Nice.

Answer 6

In meinem hessischen Dorf der Kindheit Glauberg (Kreis Büdingen) gibt es bis nach 1800 systematisch Eintragungen mit dieser Form für unverheiratete und für verheiratete Frauen.

Z.B. 1804: "... wurde Johannes Goll, Johannes Gollen ehelicher Sohn, mit Anna Margaretha Treuthin, Joh. Georg Treuthen ehelicher Tochter ... copuliert".

Die Pfarrer jedenfalls verwendeten alle mindestens im 18. Jahrhundert diese Form für alle Mädchen und Frauen in den Kirchenbüchern.

Ob und wie lange im allgemeinen Sprachgebrauch des Volkes in Hessen die Form "-in" bei Mädchen- und Frauen-Namen üblich war, ist mir nicht bekannt.

Übrigens: auch die Familiennamen der Männer wurden gebeugt: Johannes Goll wurde im Genitiv: "Gollen", dito im Dativ und Akkussativ. Auch Johannes Treuth wurde so zu "Johannes Treuthen ... Tochter" gebeugt.

So findet sich im Internet z.B. für den Familiennamen "Libs" in meinem Ort auch schon mal "Libsen".

Answer 7

In my village of youth Glauberg I find in the complet 18th century this form with -in as ending form for girls and women, married or not married ("geborene Gollin..."). All lutheran pastors used this form. Whether the normal people used this form in Hesse, I don't know.

Besides: Also the male Family names had been bend:

For example:  1804: "... wurde Johannes Goll, Johannes Gollen ehelicher Sohn, mit Anna Margaretha Treuthin, Joh. Georg Treuthen ehelicher Tochter ... copuliert".

In the Genitiv form (also Dativ and Akkussativ) the name Goll changed to "Johannes Gollen Sohn". So I find in the internet family trees sometimes the fault: so Libsen for a man of Glauberg, who was called Libs.

Comments

If my immigrant grandmother was named Anna Maria Dorothea Turckerin, what most likely is her last name?  I've tried Turcker, Tucker, de Turck, and Turcket, but have yet to find any parents with any of those names.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Answer 8

Hello Catherine!
In my ancestries we have some wive names ending -"in". I found the following explanation in https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Familiennamen and translated it into American using DeepL:
"Female name ending
Colloquially, especially in the southern German language area, the surnames of women are sometimes extended by adding the suffix -in, for example Bernauerin. This suffix was still entered in official documents such as church records until the 18th century, Müller to Müllerin. The suffix -in can still be heard in Bavarian as well as -e in Swabian or -i in Alemannic, the suffix -n in the Vogtland dialect (die Müllern).

Regards Thomas

Comments

I think you mean, "hello, Dave"

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I have contacted a German archivist regarding an ancestor of mine whose name my parents recorded as 

BIENERIN, ELISABETHA (1749 GERMANY)

He was able to find the detailed birth records using additional data, an confirmed that the "-in" ending was common in the Palatinate at the time - her father's family name was actually KIENER (the capital "K" and capital "B" can be difficult to distinguish in old German handwriting!)