Germen 'Von' usage

[joycem10]

I was reading the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and noticed that the usage of the "Von" prefix to a German last name seems to have been much more prevelant in the period of the 30s-40s than one sees today. I rarely see a von _____ anymore.

Was the von prefix only attached to the family names of the Prussian Junkers or was it used throught the German speaking territories? Has that prefix fallen out of style with the decendant's of aristocratic families? Is its lack of usage some type of fallout from the postware era and the Soviet occupation of the former Prussian territories?

 

[kronic]

I was reading the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and noticed that the usage of the "Von" prefix to a German last name seems to have been much more prevelant in the period of the 30s-40s than one sees today. I rarely see a von _____ anymore.

Was the von prefix only attached to the family names of the Prussian Junkers or was it used throught the German speaking territories? Has that prefix fallen out of style with the decendant's of aristocratic families? Is its lack of usage some type of fallout from the postware era and the Soviet occupation of the former Prussian territories?

The "von" is still used and is not only limited to the Junkers. The fact that there are less "von" and "zu" in the public perception has probably something to do with the massive loss of power that the nobility had to face after 1918/45. The aristocrats dominated politics and the military.
Also, since Germany isn't a monarchy anymore, there's no one who could grant privileges like certain titles.

But there are still some guys with von in their name. One member of our parliament is von Bismarck, desecendant of the famous chancellor. Needless to say, he's a Conservative.

 

[luiz]

I'm a "von", and IIRC my grandfather's family is not from Prussia.

 

[Hamlet]

As has been said, the simple fact is that back in the 30's the conservative aristocracy still held sway over a lot of the arms of the state, and were particularly dominant in the military (And army in particular.). Hence any book on the Third Reich will include many 'vons.'

 

[luiz]

"Von" is an aristocratic name, then?

 

[kronic]

Yes.

 

[Mr. Do]

especially for vampires!

 

[Hamlet]

"Von" is an aristocratic name, then?

'von' just means 'of'. It basically signifies, for nobles, the area which your family rules/ruled over at some point in the past.

 

[Damnyankee]

"Von" is an aristocratic name, then?

Didn't know you had german ancestors. Interesting how Germans and Latin Americans intermingled. A stinging point would be Nazi alliances with some of them, but thats about it. Also notice that alot of Italians went to South America. By the way, for anyone who hasn't figured it out yet in my posts, I am Italian

 

[ainwood]

'von' just means 'of'. It basically signifies, for nobles, the area which your family rules/ruled over at some point in the past.

That's what I always thought, too. Just like the dutch 'van' - the rest of the name will invariably be the name of the town / city where the family resided.

 

[luiz]

Didn't know you had german ancestors. Interesting how Germans and Latin Americans intermingled. A stinging point would be Nazi alliances with some of them, but thats about it. Also notice that alot of Italians went to South America. By the way, for anyone who hasn't figured it out yet in my posts, I am Italian

I knew I had german ancestors(my grandfather is german), I just didn't know that those ancestors were aristocrats. I thought that "von" meant "of", like in the portguese "de", which is very far from aristocratic.

I'm also partly Italian, btw.

 

[Hamlet]

Well, it doesn't neccesarily mean that your ancestors were aristocrats. Initially it just meant 'of' and had no noble signifigance, and merely indicated a town/city/area of origin. At other times there were penalties for non-nobility using 'von' in their names. Since the end of the monarchies in Germany and Austria, anyone can technically call themselves 'von' without any repercussions. You'd have to research your family history in detail if you wanted to clarify this point.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Uh...no. You cannot call yourself 'von' .
The Dutch 'van' mostly means the location. And medieval German names follow the same rules.
If you see that much less today, that's because of several reasons:
1) Families became extinct. A natural phenomenon, and no new aristocrats are created.
2) Austria (but not Germany) abolished aristocratic titles. Even the members of their imperial family are now simple 'Habsburg', e.g. Otto Habsburg. But Germany very well has a Leopold von Bayern (yes, that is his official name - at least a small part of it).
3) Many aristocrats consider it inappropriate and outdated to use their full names any longer. For example, both a Sayn-Wittgenstein and a Solms are prominant politicians -and both abstain from using their aristocratic titles; it would simply sound to elitist - you won't get elected as Herrmann Otto Prinz zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich We're a communist society after all.
If you earn your living with stories in the Yellow Press OTOH...

 

[Hamlet]

Uh...no. You cannot call yourself 'von' .

Nowadays? 'Course you can. You can call yourself Ronaldbeer Johosophat Elizabeth Boguslav III McTweedle if you want. You can change your name to pretty much anything you want. Certainly in Britain you can.

 

[kronic]

Herrmann Otto Prinz zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich

I didn't know that this FDP bastard is an aristocrat.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

I didn't know that this FDP bastard is an aristocrat.

I'd also abstain from being called like one of Germanies worst beers.

@Hamlet: You can of course pick any pseudonym you like (unless those who have that name legally object). But you cannot change your name offcially, unless you have a very good reason - like your name is Hitler (in which case it *must* be changed ), or usually it is some vulgarity. But you cannot choose a title. Like you cannot call yourself 'Doktor'.

I can do this - I am a medic.

 

[Perfection]

A bit off topic but "German von Usage" would make an excellent name

Edit woah 15151

 

[Hamlet]

But you cannot change your name offcially, unless you have a very good reason

In Britain all you have to do to change your name is start using a new one. *shrug.*

 

[luiz]

@Hamlet: You can of course pick any pseudonym you like (unless those who have that name legally object). But you cannot change your name offcially, unless you have a very good reason - like your name is Hitler (in which case it *must* be changed ), or usually it is some vulgarity. But you cannot choose a title. Like you cannot call yourself 'Doktor'.

I can do this - I am a medic.

That's odd. In Brazil you can officially change you name for whatever you like.

I could officially rename myself to Luiz Paulo von Habsburg of Windsor, if I felt like it. Many famous people officially add their nicknames to their names.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Ordnung muß sein.

Were would we get if everyone could simply choose his name !

No, seriously: It's quite some work to get your name changed officially. You really have to convince the administration - Standesamt; it also requires a nice stack of forms. When my son was born, the clinic forgot to submit his middle name...took three days until they were able to fix their fault. But only because he of course had no such things like an ID card yet.

Oh, and I have to correct myself: Of course, occasionally new titles are granted - we do have a Kaiser Franz (Beckenbauer) after all!