Using the Register f Swiss Surnames Switzerland Hw t Guide, Beginning Level: Instructin Octber 2015 GOAL This guide will teach yu t navigate the nline versin f the Register f Swiss Surnames, and hw t utilize the Register t find twns f rigin f Swiss peple. INTRODUCTION Switzerland is the nly cuntry where an individual s citizenship in a twn grants citizenship in the cuntry. Every Swiss citizen, frm the 1700s thrugh tday, is first and fremst a citizen f a specific twn. This citizenship is inherited thrugh the father, and is expensive and timecnsuming t change. That means a family can live fr generatins in ther places, but keep their citizenship in their riginal ancestral village. Additinally, each twn is required t keep recrds f their citizens n matter where in Switzerland they lived. The Register f Swiss Surnames is a recrd f every twn s citizens by surname as f the 1960s, and can be a very helpful tl fr determining the twn f rigin fr Swiss ancestrs. HOW TO Accessing the Register f Swiss Surnames: G t the website: www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/famn/?lg=e A Ggle search fr the phrase Register f Swiss Surnames will als identify the website. The title f the website is Register f Swiss Surnames and shuld be the first hit n the Ggle search. The Register f Swiss Surnames can als be accessed frm FamilySearch: G t FamilySearch. Click n Search, then click n Wiki. In the search bx, type Switzerland. Click n the Wiki page called Switzerland Genealgy Under the sectin Research Tls, click n the secnd link.
Using the Register f Swiss Surnames The image belw shws a typical search result. The search prtin f the page is lcated n the left side f the page. Results are returned n the right side, divided int clumns. The fllwing items will help in understanding the clumns: Under Cantn, there is a tw-letter cde. Each Cantn has its wn cde. Click n Abbreviatins, lcated in the dark green sectin at the tp f the page, fr help with the Cantn abbreviatins. The Cmmunity is the twn in which citizenship was held. This cmmunity can be but is nt necessarily the same place as where the parish recrds were held. Under Citizenship btained are letters and years. The letter a indicates the surname held citizenship prir t 1800. It crrespnds with the bx t the left labeled befre 1800. The letter b indicates the surname gained citizenship between 1800 and 1900. It crrespnds with the bx t the left labeled 19 th century. When a year is given, this indicates the year that the surname gained citizenship in the cmmunity.
The Place f Origin indicates the rigin f the surname. When the place f rigin is given, it means that an individual with that surname gained citizenship in the twn listed under Cmmunity and previusly held citizenship listed under Place f Origin. Ntice the tw-letter Cantn cdes. Other cdes indicate different cuntries f rigin. Click n Abbreviatins fr help with the cuntry abbreviatins. Tips fr searching the Register f Swiss Surnames Diacritical marks (including umlauts such as ü r accent marks such as é) are treated as straight characters. A search fr Muller will return results fr Muller and Müller. The search is exact. A search fr Mueller will nt return any results fr Müller. A search fr vn Tbel will nt return results fr Vntbel. Partial spellings are accepted, unless the exact match bx is marked. Thus a search fr Näf will return the surname Näf, as well as Naftule, Nafzger, etc. In Switzerland, the initial letter f the surname is never umlauted, but spelled ut. Thus, a search fr the surname Äppli shuld be entered as Aeppli. The results are alphabetized, with any umlaut letters ccurring after the letter z. Thus, the surname Müller is listed after Muller, Kägi fllws the surname Kyburger, and the twn Bäretswil will cme after Birmensdrf. The search results are alphabetized first by cantn, then by lcatin. Results can be limited by cantn by selecting the tw-letter cantn cde frm the drpdwn menu. If the lcatin f an ancestr is knwn, but the spelling f the surname is unclear, a Cmmunity search can als be perfrmed. Type in the name f the twn under Cmmunity. There is a drpdwn menu fr chsing the Cantn if necessary. The results f this search will be alphabetized by surname, nt by lcatin. Results can be limited by time perid. There are three checked bxes belw the search entry frm labeled befre 1800, 19 th century, and 1901 1962. If searching fr ancestrs in the 1800s r prir, de-select the bxes that d nt apply t yur search fr better results. Uses fr the Register f Swiss Surnames If the exact cmmunity f citizenship is unknwn, a search fr the surname can help t identify the pertinent parishes fr an area search. This wrks particularly well fr unusual surnames. Analyze the results list. Any surname wh has a citizenship date f a (befre 1800) r b (19 th century) indicates that the family has lived in the parish fr hundreds f years, rather than a surname wh acquired citizenship in the 1900s. If the hme parish is unknwn, always begin yur search with the a and b parishes first.
A partial name search (i.e. Sturz ) will return all results beginning with the letters entered. This can assist in surnames that may have been Americanized. If the surname riginates frm anther twn r cuntry, this is indicated n the register. By searching fr a specific cmmunity, all surnames will be returned in the results. This can aid research when surnames are difficult t read, but the lcatin is knwn. When using a surname search, any pertinent bigraphical entries will be listed at the bttm f the page. The subject f the bigraphy is given, fllwed by three clumns labeled D, F, and I, under which a blue X is shwn. The clumns indicate the language the bigraphy is available (D = German, F = French, and I = Italian); by clicking n the blue X under the specific language clumn, the bigraphy will be shwn in that specific language. The Specificatins clumn shw the birth and death year f the individual. Limitatins f the Register f Swiss Surnames The Register f Swiss Surnames des nt allw fr wild card searches. There is n cmplete alphabetical list. This may be fund by accessing the print versin. The surnames recrded are fr the mst part a snapsht f surnames in Switzerland as f the year 1962, meaning that: Surnames that died ut r daughtered ut befre 1962 d nt shw up. Municipalities annexed t thers befre 1962 r created after 1962 will nt shw up in the cmmunity search. Citizenships acquired after 1962 are nt listed. PRACTICE 1. G t the Register f Swiss Surnames website. The website address is www.hls-dhsdss.ch/famn/?lg=e r d a Ggle search fr the phrase Register f Swiss Surnames. 2. Click n the wrd Abbreviatins. Identify the tw-letter cde fr the cantn f Zürich. This cde is ZH. 3. Under Surname, type in the surname Meyer. Click n Search. Scrll dwn and ntice hw many results were fund. 4. Click n the drp-dwn menu under Cantn. Select the cde ZH, indicating Zürich. This will limit results t nly thse fund in the cantn f Zürich. Click n Search. Scrll dwn; ntice that the results list is much shrter, but still fairly lng. 5. Under the search sectin, click n the bxes next t 19 th century and 1901 1962 s that there is nt a check mark in these bxes. Click n Search. Ntice that the results
list fr the citizenship nw fits n the screen. This shws that the surname Meyer held citizenship in nly 21 twns prir t 1800, and that these cmmunities are listed alphabetically. Als ntice that the surname Meyer shws up fur times in the city f Zürich nce anciently, and three separate acquisitins f citizenship frm three different twns in the 1600s and 1700s. Ntice als that at the end f the first list, the surname Meyerhfer was als returned, as it begins with the search term entered, Meyer. 6. Lk underneath the results listed by twn. Ntice that the surname list in the Bigraphy sectin is still extensive. The bigraphies will nt change regardless f the gegraphical limitatins entered in the search sectin. 7. Nw erase the surname Meyer frm the search bx, and leave the bx blank. Under Cmmunity, type in the twn name f Wald. Click n the drp-dwn list next t Cantn. Scrll t the very tp f the drp-dwn menu and select the blank space abve the cde AG. This will search all cantns. Click n Search. 8. Ntice that the search results are nw alphabetized by surname rather than by lcatin. The results shw multiple cantn cdes as well as cmmunities, all f which begin with Wald. Click n the bx next t Exact Match s that a check mark shws up. Click n Search. View the results. Ntice that under Cmmunity, nly Wald appears, but under Cantn, tw cantnal cdes shw up. The results are still alphabetized by surname. 9. Under the drp-dwn menu next t Cantn, select ZH fr the cantn f Zürich. In the three bxes belw the search sectin, click n the small bxes next t 19 th century and 1901 1962 s that all three time perids have check marks in the bxes. Click n Search. 10. Ntice that the results are nw nly identifying surnames that are frm the cmmunity f Wald, in the cantn f Zürich. The results are alphabetized by surname. The results include citizenship held befre 1800 (the letter a ), as well as numerus citizenships acquired in the 1800s and 1900s. Click n the bx next t 1901 1962 s that there is n check mark in this bx. Click n Search. 11. The results list is nw much smaller, and nly cntains thse surnames which held citizenship befre 1900. Lk at the first surname n the list. It shuld be the surname Aicher. The surname acquired citizenship in 1895 and 1896. Under Place f rigin, there is nly the letter D. Click n Abbreviatins t identify the place f rigin fr the surname Aicher. D des nt shw up under the heading Cantns, but it des shw up under Eurpe. Here D indicates that the surname riginally came frm Germany. ACTIVITY Nw, test yur skills yu have learned in this Hw t Guide. The Activity is a way t check yur knwledge and let yu knw yu ve mastered the Guide! Click here t try ut the Activity.