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Re: The German surname "Gallwas"
There are Gallwas all over Germany as you can see at tinyurl.com/h75jn9b. According to the data at tinyurl.com/zqg5fhq and tinyurl.com/znmap5k, Gallwas is an alteration of the French name Gallois which is from Old French galois 'fun-loving, bon vivant'.
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Thanks for your reply!Today there is in Germany the surname "Gallwas," but in the thousands of archives I have looked through, there were no Gallwas in the 19th century. Thus, I am not able to trace the person on my family tree. The URL you sent me I have seen before, but I have been mystified over the present day usage of this name since there are none in ANY archive within the years of the 1800's -1900's for which I am searching.Also, I have seen the French variant for Gallwas, but since my grandmother's familly only ever spoke German and never considered themselves of French blood I wondered if there was another variant of the spelling for Gallwas that would apply to my family.Thanks for your help!
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A French surname in Germany need not be of recent immigrants. Many French Huguenots settled in Germany in the 17th century, long enough for a spelling to develop more acceptable to German speakers. At one time (18th century?) Berlin's population was 25% Huguenot.
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Thank you! That is very interesting. It sure does widen the possibilities.
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