I think it's probably more like Mary/Polly or John/Jack or Jim/James
than Jr./Sr.
Actually, it's most like John and Jack -- our "Jack" is probably the
equivalent of "Hans", that is, a nickname for John.
Bonita, I had friends in a family that had 7 kids, and each of them had a
nick-name not related to their given name. Vaughn was called Toots, Jean
was Jiggs, Jane was Maggie, Edward was Pete, etc. Argghhh!
Germans gave 2-3 or even more names to their babies. It has been
explained to me that, while Americans have a First Name and a Second
Name, that often, Germans are called by any one of their names, not
necessarily the first. That's obvious, of course, to anyone who's been
doing genealogy for awhile.
In my RIECKMANN / WOLLE family (related to the Hilmers) the 2 older girls
were
baptized Maria Dorothea Anna - called Anna
baptized Katharine Maria Dorothea - called Mary
The youngest was called Kate (haven't found her baptismal record yet)
They just used the same names again and again.
Mona