What is the significance of Kleine combined with an 18th century German surname, and what should be the LNAB?

Question

In researching the Drahmann family in records from St Viktor Church in Damme, I have come across a number of people with what appears to be a double surname, the first part of which is Kleine. An example is the wife of Johann Henrich Drahmann, who appears to have the maiden name of Kleine Haverbeck. It is on her birth, marriage and death records, and on her father's marriage record. Sometimes it is written Kl. Haverbeck. The puzzling part is that there are a number of these types of names: Kleine Austing, Kleine Klönne, Kleine Ronnebaum, to name a few. A helpful wikitreer told me that "Kleine" means "small" so we were postulating a "Junior" type of situation, but the name carried through as a combined name. Wondering if anyone knows the significance of this? Also, advice needed on the LNAB.  I'd like to add a profile for wife Catherine or Anna (once I figure out her first name) and add profiles and  sources for her family as well. Unless the "Kleine" is a prefix of some sort, I'm thinking that both names "Kleine Haverbeck", should go in the LNAB field. What do others suggest?

Answer 1

In the former Amt Vechta, to which Damme belonged, house or farm names were often used as family names, whereby bearers of the same name did not have to be related to each other, but they were owners of the farm (often, however, they were relatives or they married into the farm and adopted the farm name as a family name).
In the Amt Vechta there were two farms with the name Haverbeck, so one was called Haverbeck and the other Klein Haverbeck and thus also the family of the respective owners.
Klein Haverbeck can mean that it was the smaller farm, but also a farm that was built up by people who came from the Haverbeck farm (i.e. the younger of the two farms).

See annex with the farm names from the Amt Vechta. https://www.soft-serv.de/om/pag/pag_1/pag_125_2.htm

Comments

Thank you so much! That clarifies a lot!

Answer 2

If the baptism record shows Kleine Haverbeck, use this in the LNAB field.

Earlier records in the churchbook in the 1600/ early 1700s might only show Haverbeck, so be aware of this when you try to build your tree. If this is the case, you might need to build the genealogy for both farms. I have two cases like this in a parish north of Osnabrück.

Also note the correct birth place is Damme, Vörden, Osnabrück, Heiliges Römisches Reich and the correct death location is Damme, Damme, Oldenburg, Deutscher Bund as per http://gov.genealogy.net/item/show/DAMMME_W2845

Comments

Thank you for the advice. This is a challenge, but  I have a fair number of families in this area, so  this will be helpful. Also thanks for the help with place names and a resource to find them. That was going to be my next question :)