What does this word mean? *BOPE FrancisBopeCarpenter

Question

Hi -

My Great Great Grandfather's  grave stone has a STRANGE word or letters between his name  -  [ FrancesBopeCarpenter  1847 -1930 ]

I know his *REAL Luxembourg name was - *Pierre Francos Charpentier but I recently FOUND his grave stone and I haven't a CLUE??? what this middle word means??

Does anyone KNOW?  what  - BOPE -  means?  

Thanks for YOUR TIME & HELP.

Doug / Michigan  U.S.A.

Answer 1

Bope is a family name from the Rhineland.

Answer 2

Hi Doug,

I don´t really see the word Bope as a family name in Germany or Luxembourg and don´t know if it would even fit in with this family.

I think a possibility is, that it was his "nickname". In Luxembourg, one word for Grandfather is "Bopi" and  because the luxembourgian/german "i" and the english "e" are pronounced the same way, it could just be a misspelling. Perhaps the children/grandchildren didn´t really know anymore what the nickname they called him originally meant. But it is just a theory...

Kind regards,

Timo