Hello Pauline,
unluckily you didn't mention the place where your ancestors used to live,
but indeed, nicknames were neccessarily used.
For example Johann, Johanne, Je, Ja are mentioned often and I have 3
Marie KLUSKE's from the one family and 4 Johann August KLUSKE's. Were
nicknames used perhaps? Any information would be very helpful.
Johann, Joseph, Maria, Anna etc were very common first names. In my case
the surname HACKENBERG was also very current in Austrian Silesian villages
Nieder-Lindewiese (NL) and Ober-Lindewiese (OL):
OL:= 44x Hackenberg, 23x Gröger, 24x Neugebauer, 11x Baum,.
NL: = 103x Hackenberg, 43x Neugebauer, 41x Spielvogel, 28x Gröger, 29x
Baum.
Hannis = Johannes,
Sepp = Joseph, also Pepp = Joseph.
Both are still current nicknames in Austria/Bavaria.
Palzer = Balzer = Balthasar. Naz is an abbreviation for Ignaz. Hoapricht =
Harpricht = Hartbrecht, Lipp = Philipp,
Towis = Tobias, Domis = Thomas, Katjan = Katharina, Merten = Martin.
Allwis = Adolf; Soacher = Sacher = Zacharias, Tonis = Anton.
The Hackenberg nicknames were composed from of a hint for descent (Naz,
Lipp, Towis) and a supplement with current first name of bearer. The code
would work like this: Name of an ancestor, e.g. Palzer = Balthasar
Hackenberg, is combined with the firstname of descendant. Palzer Peppis =
Joseph from Balthasar?s Hackenberg family. Lipp Peppis = Joseph from Phi
lipp?s Hackenberg's family.
BTW: There are also HACKENBERG living in Australia, they originate from
Boehmischdorf, Austrian Silesia.
Bye to downunder
Helmut Hackenberg