GermanNames Mapping
What it does
Often one of the most difficult problems in German genealogy is to find the village of origin of an immigrant, especially if the person was an early immigrant (pre-1800). Many times there are no surviving clues to a person's place of origin in the records of an immigrant's new homeland. In these cases, the person's name may be one of the best starting places to find his place of origin.
Phone listings can provide a good starting place for your search. Although there has been much internal migration within Germany over the last few centuries, places of origin of a surname or at least the region in which it originated can be still be seen in the current distribution pattern of many surnames. This program provides a simple way to view the current pattern of distribution in surnames.
The program uses telephone listings from Germany to
produce maps showing the locations of a particular surname today. The program produces a map of all of Germany showing the number of listings in each two-digit zipcode (PLZ) area. It also provides statistics on the distribution by state - number in each state, percentage of the total in each state, and the number of listings per 1,000,000 population in each state. These statistics, along with the map, document how the surname is distributed. Example
The program also produces maps of the distribution in each of the 13 states. The state maps show the two-digit zip code boundaries in red and the smaller zipcode areas in light blue. Within the light blue areas the zipcodes are distributed at random. The two-digit zipcode areas often cross state boundaries. In a few cases, full 5-digit zipcodes cross state boundaries. Example
For each state map you can get a list of the individual town names where the listings are found, along with the number of listings in each town. This list can be sorted by either zipcode (to group nearby locations) or by number of listings in the town.
Example
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Copyright 2007 by McCrea Research, Inc.