What do I do with first names from the church book only times?

Question

Dear Treefolk,

when creating a profile, what is preferable - the Latin first name from the Catholic Church book or the German first name people used in everyday life? I have noticed that both occur in WikiTree and now I am unsure which is the preferred or correct form. So far, for persons for whom only a Catholic baptismal entry proves the birth (18th century and earlier), I have taken the Latin first names recorded there and then entered the German first name used under the "preferred name", e.g. Sauren-91. Is there a clear rule for this?

Thanks in advance!

Heike

Answer 1

You might want to check out https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Germany_Project_Name_Field_Guidelines

Kind regards from Black Forest

Comments

Dear Florian,

thank you so much - if there had not been a star already given by someone else, I would have chosen it to your answer - this was so helpful! You really made my day (although I will have to change some profile's first name fields now) :-)

Kind regards from Düsseldorf

Answer 2

Tried to do this like that " I have taken the Latin first names recorded there and then entered the German first name used under the "preferred name" " as well, but unfortunately not consistent, since sometimes the record you base the profile on, is not the baptism, and you later run into the baptism record...  But I would make that the "rule" and try to stick to it, but the same appears in the Napolonic times in the occupied regions. The records are in french, people talk german. So I have several Guilheme, which are actual Wilhelm ... 

Comments

Thank you, Alexandra - that is exactly the same problem, the early French civil records. I do think you / we are right to stick to the "given name at birth"-rule but I got insecure when seeing several pre-1800 profiles with German names (although they are of Catholic confession, not Protestant who used the German names)