Publications

For the first time a book examines the nature of each vowel and each consonant in German and describes the kinds of changes that can occur in the spellings of German personal names and place names. Variations of name spellings in Germany and between Germany and North America are featured. The book is designed for both novice and expert researchers; while the former can discover why specific changes in name spellings occur, the latter will find explanations for what s/he may have already known about those changes. Phonetic rules are discussed, but the reader is invited to skip those and use a trouble-shooting guide of over 200 names to proceed directly to examples of name variations. An every-name index is included. The thesis of this book is that name spelling variations are (1) natural, (2) logical, and thus to an extant (3) predictable.

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Experts in the field have this to say about Deciphering Handwriting: "I have never before seen a book of this caliber on the market of genealogical resources . . . " (Trudy Schenk); "This is the type of book I have always looked for but had not been able to find - one that fills the gap between the scholarly treatise written by and for the egghead academic and the cut-and-dried undocumented 'pop-explanation' name book designed to appeal to the uncritical hobby genealogist." (Horst A. Reschke)