Last Name at Birth for Martin Luther

Question

Martin Luther's father is generally called Hans Luder and there is ample literature to the fact that Luther settled on this form for his name only in 1512 or 1517 (Bernd Moeller, K. Stackmann: Luder – Luther – Eleutherius. Erwägungen zu Luthers Namen. In: Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen. Phil.-Hist. Klasse 1981, Nr. 7; Jürgen Udolph: Martinus Luder – Eleutherius – Martin Luther: Warum änderte Martin Luther seinen Namen? Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg, 2016).

Should his LNAB be changed to Luder with Luther his Current Name?

Comments

I am a descendent of Martin Luder/Luther's brother, Jacob. It was my understanding that the Luder family name was anglicized...or to make the name more English... "Martin Luther was born to Hans Luder (or Ludher, later Luther)^[10] and his wife Margarethe (née Lindemann) on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was baptized the next morning on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. His family moved to Mansfeld in 1484, where his father was a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters^[11] and served as one of four citizen representatives on the local council.^{[10]"  WIKIPEDIA, CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSING.  PAL}

Answer 1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther#Birth_and_education

Birth and education

Portraits of Hans and Margarethe Luther by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1527.

Martin Luther was born to Hans Luder (or Ludher, later Luther)^[10] and his wife Margarethe (née Lindemann) on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, then part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Comments

Frank Gill, I recently bought glasses with a non glare chemical on them and they are a good prescription because they are less than three months old. I just cleaned the glasses twice and re read your information. 1,180,980 points? I do not take much stock in points (for personal reasons) but wow! that is a lot of helping others. Congratulations.

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If I am going to be able to keep doing genealogy for many more years, I will need non-glare glasses as well. Please advise on how to obtain them. I love wikitree, but the white background of the pages does increase the glare. Non-glare glasses would keep these old eyes typing a few more years! Thanks!

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Talk with a good eye doctor.

http://opticalstore.mayoclinic.org/products-and-services/eyeglass-lenses/tints-and-treatments.php

https://www.aoa.org/Documents/AOA%20Weekly%20Report_%20Week%20of%20May%209%202016.pdf

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You could also try a little program called flux which lets you change the color temperature of everything on your monitor to something easier on your eyes.  It is free.

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Thank you!

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Thank you Frank!

Answer 2

I heard a radio interview today with a biographer of Martin Luther where it was expressly stated that Martin changed his name from LUDER to LUTHER in adulthood.  I think the LNAB should be questioned here.

Comments

I wondered the same thing,  Leigh. I didn't want to change anything like that without the German Roots project weighing in,  but it does likely need done.

Answer 3

The German Wikipedia Article about Luther gives a lot of Explanation on where the Name at birth (different forms used at that time) came from and why it might haven been changed. One of the reasons given is that translation from lower german "Luder" to Hochdeutsch gave a meaning that would translate to "bitch" or "minx" nowadays. So just look it up here:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther#Herkunft_und_Name

Comments

His LNAB should be changed to Luder, I agree

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I also think his birth name should be changed to Luder.

Answer 4

So there is agreement to change his LNAB to 'Luder'? Could the German Roots Project therefor change it?