LL-L "Genealogy" 2004.10.03 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 03.OCT.2004 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Pyt Berg <pytbergy at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Genealogy" 2004.10.02 (08) [E]

I wonder,

What do you know about the origins of the name Bergman?
My family is Dutch but the Swedsish spelling with a single "N"

I am told it comes from Eastern Prussia.

Pieter Bergman.

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Genealogy

Hoi, Pieter!

Bergmann is not at all uncommon as a German name, and, as you said, it is
also a common Swedish name spelled <Bergman>, the the "g" pronounced as [j]
("y" as in "yard").

Much of what is now Northeastern Germany and Northern Poland were under
Swedish power for quite a while, and Eastern Prussia was home to people with
many kinds of origin, including a large percentage of Germans from south of
the Lowlands-Saxon- (Low-German-) speaking area of Germany.  Also, many
Lowlands Saxon surnames came to be Germanized under German domination of the
northern lowlands.  Changing LS Bargmann (which can still be found) to G.
Bergmann is a distinct possibility as well.

The spelling of immigrants' foreign names is often changed.  This was
certainly the case in overseas English-speaking countries where most German
surnames ending in "...mann" came to be spelled as "...man."  Perhaps the
same happened in the Netherlands, where final double "n" looks odd, very
German.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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