Anyone from Germany?

My maiden name is Schoeff, at least that is how it's spelled over here in the USA.  My relatives came over here from Germany and I know the spelling of my maiden name was different in Germany years ago.  Are any of you from Germany and can you tell me if you know of any Schoeff's in your area?

I was born and raised in Germany. I grew up what we call Frankenland, which is near Nuernberg. Sorry but I don't know anybody by that name, but maybe someone else does.

Take care

Erna

I am also from Germany,but I never heard of this name and I never met anybody by this name. I guess your maidenname was spelled Schöff ?From which town did your relatives come from? Do you know? Welcome to our Corner! Please visit us more often. Renate

I wonder,if posibly,your name has been changed through the years. The reason I say this is that the same thing happend to my uncle. My maiden name is Schmidt. My grandfather was born in Bek.He kept the true name when he came to the U.S. in 1906.My uncle,on the other hand, came later to the U.S. and he had a difficult time finding a job because of the name...Schmidt.Apparently this was because of the war. Anyway, he quickly changed his name to Smith. Maybe the same thing happened to your family. Just changed it for one reason or another.Can you go back in your family history and check to be sure it's your true name?

Nice to meet you,have a great day and Happy New Year!

Liz

hi and welcome ot the corner!

 

i am from germany and still live here - schoeff or schöff is a name that i have heard - you can also google the name and see how many sites you find!!. More known in my area is schoeffel..

 

Maybe your name was changed to make it easier for americans to pronounce but as schoeff exist in germany it can be the original one.

 

hope to see you around if you like - please fell welcom to join our chat  "lets get into the spirit"

 

see you twinkle

Came to Alaska in 1958. Maiden name is Steinwascher. I always joke and say look at my first and last name in capital letters: GRETELOTTE STEINWASCHER and you think it is a contagious disease. There are a few Steinwaschers in the US, descendents of my paternal grandfather's brother who went to the US, then went to sea and wound up shipwrecked off the coast of Japan. He married a Japanase lady and they and their children later moved to Hawaii. So I have some shirt tail relatives there, too (some of those came here to the uS). MY fathr's brother went to Brazil just before WW1 and I have some shirt tail relatives there too. but none of all thos have changed the spelling of the last name. My program does not have the "Umlaut" in it but i think Schoeff was originally spelled with an Umlaut over the O. The name soundfs familiarbut i just can't remember knowing anyone with that name.. Right now I am on a "loaner" PC, all I have is Yahoo and e-mail. My old one was a dinosaur and is getting a complete "organ" transpalnt. Hope to have it back in a week or so but am afraid a newer Windows program will be hard for me. Trued an XP and my eyes just did not get along with the lettering. This one has the 98 Millenium, only I am afraid t will be obsolete soon. Oh well, somehow I'll muddle through. Wishing all of you a Happy and hEALTHY New Year (wish we had a picture of a little piggy and a Chimney Sweep for good luck)

My home town in Germany was 50 mi east of Bonn, a place where Rhineland, Westphalia and Hessia all bumped heads.

I think Gretelotte is a pretty name. Do your friends call you Gretel, or do they pronounce the whole name? It does not sound like a disease to me, even with the last name thrown in there.

lyn_joy - are you from Michigan?  I am in Royal Oak, a suburb of Detroit.

Kath

Lyn-Joy, thanks for the conpliment but I never thought my name was pretty (too long). Yes, in Germany I was called Gretelotte, here most people call me a multitude of things: Greta, Gretel, Gretchen and a few very brave souls even try to pronounce Gretelotte only it sounds more like: Gaettlat.Some find it easier to call me Mrs. E (my married name), easier to remeber. I guess. I must have been the first one wth that name in Germany. I have googlesd and only find very few, there must be less than 10 with that first name in Germany and I am most likely the oldest. My mother told me she went to a (silent) movie when she was pregnant with me and the heroine was named Gretelotte. She liked the name and that is how I got stuck with it. My mothers best friend had always called me Grelo (I never did like that either but it was shorter) and that is what I use for my nickname here. Names can often be a burden..My husband also hated his name. His mother named him Percy Richard E. and he was teased so much when he was small and others called himk "Purse". The funniest was: when we went to Germany in 1970 he needed a birth certificate to get a passport. He wrote to the courthouse in Mt. C,emens/Michigan and requested one but was told there was no Percy Richard E born on that day, only a Benjamin Jay E. He franticallly got in touch with his sister who still lived there, had to fly to Michigan and go to the courthouse and have her vouch that he was the real thing. When we visited on our way to New York (we wnt on the German ship "Bremen") his oldest brother told him that when he was born on the farm his mother asked the doctor to fillout the birth certificate with the name Percy Richard. Appearently the old doc had stopped to hoist a few drinks before going to the courthouse and had forgotten the name. The doc's name was Jay Benjamin and he simply turned it around and put Benjamin Jay on my husband's birth certificate. I still have the corrected copy. That was quite a surpise to learn he sailed under false colors for 52 yrs. Of course he did not like that name either and preferred to be called by the color of his hair: Red. I think I better go to bed, it is after 11 and tomorrow is a "working" day, have to catch up with what I did not do today. Take care and I'll stop in ocaasionally.

Well I would like to use Gretel if you don't mind, I don't care for grelo either, but Gretel is pretty too, don't think I could pronounce Gretelotte unless I heard it out loud. That sure is an interesting story about your DH sailing under the wrong name because of the doctor's mishap. I've heard of things happening like that before. My maternal grandmother's parents settled in PA, with a last name like Schaeffer--but no one knows for sure of the original and correct spelling, they think it was changed here to Americanize it more. I love hearing your stories--got any more? What was it like when you came and settled in AK? Did your hubby go to work on the pipeline? Did you speak the language? Was it hard to learn?

Lyn-Joy, My parents had acquaintances from near my home town who went to Alaska in the 1920s when there were such bad times in Germany (fist a depression that went into hyper-infaltion). The settled in Anchorage. THose are the people who sponsored me. I did not like Anchirage (too large) and went to Fairbanks where I worked for 4 years before meetig Red on a Saturday evening. We were marruied the next Saturday (one week later) and it lasted until he passed away almost 2 yrs ago. (And I still miss him VERY much). No, we never thoght the pipeline would be built because many people there were against it. Red was offered a better job in WA and we left Alaska in 66 (and i still regeret it). We lived in the small village of Delta Junction (now a lot arger, of course), about 6 mi out of town on the highway to Fairbanks.. In WA we lived in/near Olympia, later moved to Oregon and finally wound up in a small cow-town in the sw corner of North Dakota in June 97. Speaking enough English to hold a job was one oif the requirements for immigration in those days. I had English in hgh school for 6 years and spoke better English then than I do now (better vocabulary). Well, I better get busy, have some laundry to do and a dust mop to wield. Take care. Gretel

Hello Gretel please call me Lyn, which is short for Lynda. I am sitting here stunned speechless that you married someone you only knew for a week, and it lasted all of those years. My gosh, you didn't even have time to find out if you had anything in common, like food, or anything. I guess it must have started out with a very strong attraction, and everything else fell into place, right? I'm sorry to hear that Red has passed on, but it's nice to hear that you had so many good years together. Did you ever get into any big fights? Or little ones? You certainly lucked out being able to live in all of those pretty places--I've always wanted to visit Alaska. Michigan has the Great Lakes but it is kind of Blah for scenery, no mountains or anything like that. I think your grasp of the English language is superb--you even have the slang downpat. I am trying to learn German, or should I say "Deutsch"--and I think it is really hard. You sure do have some interesting stories to tell, anytime you feel like reminiscing, I'm up for listening!!!

I lived in Germany as a child (Army brat). My great-grandfather came from Germany.

I wanted to comment on your name. A former pastor of mine, here in Aurora, Ill. has the last name Schoof. It's pronounced Shofe (long O).  Everyone around her mis-pronounces it. I'm wondering if his name is another spelling of your last name.