Multiple German Given Names I believe that these are the birth records of my GGGrandmother and her sister. In the USA, they were known as Sophia (1st pict) and Mary (2nd pict). Their parents were known as Christ and Sophia. The black bars indicate the relevant rows. The columns are birth date, baptism date, father's name, mother's name, child's name, ???. I don't read German so I am unsure of the last two columns. My question: Is there any logic to the multiple given names? In the USA, people are normally use their first name, here there are multiple instances where the first was not used. ![enter image description here]( ![enter image description here](

The columns are titled, from left to right:

1. Jahr, Mon. u Tag (Year, month and day) der Geburt (of birth) / der Taufe (of baptism)

2. Namen des Vaters (Name(s) of the father): starting with occupation, surname is underlined

3. Namen der Mutter (Name(s) of the mother): "g" or "geb" indicates maiden name

4. Namen des Kindes (Name(s) of the child): typically multiple given names, and often also information on the death where available

5. Namen der Taufzeugen (Name(s)s of the godparents): typically three godparents, with full name and residence

6. This column is only partially visible, but probably contains remarks, the name of the priest or something similar




As for "unused" given names, girls/women often received one very common name, like Anna or Maria, which might not have been used in everyday life, and one ore more other names, often chosen from family tradition, that were sometimes also used interchangeably.