My great grandfather's name was Lee. He was a pure blooded German. But I am a bit confused. I.................

Question

can't find the name Lee in any german name dictionaries. It comes up as old english. Now the family last name is German, I was even able to find that. But I can't find Lee as a german first name. So can anyone explain to me how could a pure german's name not show up in his own country's name data base but as old english?

P.S. He was born and raised in Germany. My family didnt move to america until my grandfather moved over here.

Answer 1

I have done a search of the sites I know and your quite right, there is no mention of it being German, this is what ancestry.com had to say about both christian and surname Lee.
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/Fact.aspx?&fid=10&fn=Lee&ln=Lee
hope this helps you.

Answer 2

If he is pure German, and if his last name is a German name, and he was born and raised in Germany, then I don't understand your confusion. A first name is irrelevant. Granted, most people's first names are names that reflect their nationality, however, his name is what his mother chose to name him. She could name him anything she wanted to. If she heard the name Lee somewhere and liked it, well then that is all it takes for your German grandfather to be named Lee. Also, as some others said, it could have just been Americanized from some other name.

Answer 3

Sometimes names don't necessarily correspond to nationality. Perhaps your ancestors admired Robert E. Lee? Case in point: My paternal grandfather grew up in a German-American community, Brenham, Texas, and had a very German-sounding given name, Walstein, which is also a Jewish-German last name. He was also named after his mother's brother, Walstein Keesee (a surname that was originally La Cage).

I incorrectly jumped to the conclusion that my grandfather was German. Upon further research, however, I discovered he was of French Huguenot and Scottish ancestry. Apparently, my great-great grandparents and great grandparents just liked the name. I'll never know, but perhaps he and his uncle were named after the German translation of "Stonewall" Jackson.

Answer 4

Try german variation on the name Lee. The agents at Ellis Island often screwed up the foriegn names. It could be Liech or Liechen or whatever could sould like Lee. It is also psooible he was named after someone English. You worry to much.

Answer 5

He probably Americanized his first name, which is a common thing. His first name may have been something like Leopold and he shortened it to Lee to sound more American or because Americans were calling him Lee anyhow. For example, I have great and great-great-grandparents whose names were Johann, Katharina, and Josef, but they all changed their names to John, Katherine or Kate, and Joseph once they immigrated. Another reason for changing first names was because even in the past, Americans tended to look down upon immigrants, so the immigrants themselves wanted to look as American as possible.

Just be glad that your surname wasn't Americanized (or at least not that much). I have a German surname that I've found 5 different versions of and it seems my ancestors just used whatever version they felt like on that particular day (very confusing!).

Hope that helps!

Answer 6

The other answerers have it right, "Lee" was probably just his American name or nickname. It was (and is) very common for immigrants to adopt American versions of their name once they came to the U.S, to both "blend in" and minimize prejudice against foreigners (many germans changed their last names as well, esp. during WWI). Lee could be Leopold, or something similar. In my family, Friedrich became Frederick, Luise became Louisa, Fritz became Fred, etc.

Answer 7

I would check the SHIPS list and other records.
My husbands family name is Sontag (Sunday in German)
IT was spelled Sonntag on the boat and was AMERICANIZED. This happened alot.
Ellis Island might be help.