Migration in Slovenia in the light of German family names brought to Gottschee region from former territorry - by Erik Krisch,Ljubljana

 

The territory of today's Slovenia had been a part of the Habsburg monarchy for centuries. As history tells us Slovenes have settled this territorry from 6th to 9th century a.d. . In the 14th century the country witnesed a colonization of Austrians and Germans in today’s regions of Gorenjska (Selška valley, Škofja Loka and its surroundings) and Kočevska region. As an example I have taken on a random family name Begusch-Beguš originally from Tyrolean region and I found ninety (90) addresses in Slovenian telephone directory 2001, distributed in the following manneer: 20-01,2-02,0-03,30-04,37-05,1-07).

I have chosen Gottscheer region as a cradle of family names of German origin appearing in today Slovenia.

The colonists in Gottscheer region originated from the territory of east Tyrol-west Carinthia, Bavaria and some of them from Lorraine, Franken and Turinghia.

Gottscheer German, senior master Josef Pertz compiled a list of 316 German family names used in Gottscheer region in year 1935, naming them “names brought from origin” (althergebrahten Gottscheer Familiennamen).

From this historical listing I have selected only those family names, confirmed by Ivan Simončič (Les migration au rayon de Kočevje dans la lumiere des noms de famillie-Migration in Gottscheer region in light of family names, Etnolog VII, Etnografski muzej v Ljubljani 1934) as being of German origin. In his work Mr. Simončič also analysed which territories those names were brought from to Gottschee region.

There remained some names that were not confirmed by Simončič in his writings, but they were on the list of Mr.Pertz. I've discussed those with Mr.Janez Keber, researcher of the Institute for Slovenian language from Ljubljana.

I’ve followed the names in today’s Slovenia simply with the help of the telephone directory Slovenia 2001. The results are listed in table #1 and table #2.

A surprisingly high number of family names shows migration through a decades-long period and is also an evidence of assimilation in the Slovenian majority.

Analysis of the distribution of listed names shows the history of that migration. Interpretation of listed results is awaiting for deeper research which was not the purpose of this Conference.

I hope that reading and/or hearing about my contribution several Slovenians with German family names will start digging their past for roots and become a fan of our genealogy association

 

table #1
Family name Ljubljana,01 Mb,MS,Ra-02 Ce,Trb,-03 Kranj-04 Kp,Po,NG-05 Nm,Krško-07 Kočevsko Total
Epih(Eppich)

3

1

4
Erker

9

30

5

44
Fink

85

14

36

8

13

91

2

249
Flack

1

1

2
Fuchs

8

12

1

2

2

25
Grabner

9

48

35

2

1

95
Gril

43

76

50

19

20

26

2

236
Grilj

58

7

26

91
Grill

2

6

8
Haas

1

3

1

5
Heferle

2

1

1

4
Hefferle

2

1

3
Hegler

19

2

3

1

1

4

30
Henigman

28

1

3

4

14

19

69
Herbst

9

2

1

3

1

16
Höferle

1

1
Höfferle

3

1

2

6
Hoge

1

1
Högler

2

1

3
Hönigmann

1

1
Huter

1

1
Hutter

6

8

1

15
Kofler

5

1

1

11

18
Kolman

31

35

32

41

13

30

182
Kosler

4

4
Köstner

1

1
Kramer

22

38

73

1

3

11

1

149
Kren

22

15

1

8

33

79
Kropf

4

16

3

25
Kump

33

10

3

7

4

32

1

90
Kussole
Lackner

1

1
Lakner

27

5

19

13

3

26

2

95
Lobe

19

1

4

4

28
Mantel

3

1

1

5
Matzele

2

1

3
Mauser

10

3

4

5

22
Mausser

5

2

3

10
Nadler

4

1

1

6
Osterman

36

8

4

44

1

8

6

107
Ostermann

1

1

2
Oswald

1

8

1

10
Paar

4

4
Pečauer

2

1

3
Peer

4

2

9

1

16
Peitler

3

1

4
Pfeifer

18

18

31

9

3

10

89
Pöschl

4

4
Putre

3

3
Rankel

5

1

1

1

8
Rankl

2

1

3
Rauch

2

2

3

1

1

9
Retel

1

1
Retelj

16

1

4

28

49
Rupe

2

21

23
Satler

13

83

54

9

4

1

164
Sattler

5

1

2

1

9
Schauer

2

2

2

6
Schmuck

1

2

3
Schneider

1

4

1

6
Schneller

1

1
Schober

1

1
Schuster

4

1

1

6
Schweiger

7

2

2

1

19

31
Spreitzer

12

2

2

1

17
Springer

3

3
Stampfl

1

1
Stangl

1

1
Staudacher

2

1

3
Sturm

1

1
Šercer(Scherzer)

38

4

1

1

5

49
Šlajmar(Schleim.

1

3

4
Šmid(Schmied)

57

51

62

160

5

8

343
Šober

5

84

1

12

1

9

112
Štangl

2

3

1

6
Štaudaher
Šuster

15

18

55

2

10

100
Šuštar

189

7

17

31

23

20

287
Troje

1

1
Veber

59

69

100

31

8

9

1

273
Verderber

8

1

1

6

8

24
Weber

23

14

9

7

4

2

59
Weiss

26

26

13

3

3

20

91
Wetz

1

1
Wolf

17

22

3

8

2

8

61

1059

760

672

455

171

454

56

3626

Table #2

Family name Ljubljana-01 Mb,MS,Rav-02 Ce,Trb,-03 Kranj-04 Kp,Po,NG-05 Nm,Krško07 Kočevsko Skupaj
Bauer

37

20

5

6

3

4

5

80
Brinskele

1

1
Hofman

5

6

3

2

16
Hofmann

1

1
Jaklič

97

3

17

19

5

77

1

219
Jaklitsch

1

1
Jonke

7

2

4

4

3

1

2

23
Kapsch

1

1
Kapš

18

3

1

4

32

58
Kikel

12

2

1

1

16
Kikl

11

2

13
Kinkopf

1

1

2
Knaus

10

27

5

1

43
König

2

2

4

1

6

15
Mallner

1

1
Malner

1

1
Maurin

3

2

5
Mavrin

23

11

7

5

11

57
Mayer

14

4

1

2

2

2

25
Oberman

1

1

3

5
Oberster

1

1
Rom

12

14

1

11

38
Skender

11

4

5

4

2

2

12

40
Šterbenc

20

6

2

1

7

36
Štine

3

8

11
Zimmermann

1

1

2

280

103

71

44

27

155

31

711