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Re: Trying to find origins of surname Dorbert
in reply to a message by genis
I was thinking along the same lines, and also struggling with Dor. I was wondering if it might represent the Old Germanic Thor which occurs in some English surnames in various forms; Thirkettle, Torode, Thorburn, etc.
I believe the early medieval German form of Thor was Donar, which makes this explanation less likely. Anyway I don't know of any German surnames that incorporate the name Thor, however spelt. Maybe someone with a knowledge of German can clarify.
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If you go to www.telefonbuch.de you will find the following:85 x Dorbert in Germany
0 x Thorbert
0 x Torbert
393 x Thor
17 x ThorwaldTHORBERT is not listed in Foerstemann’s Altdeutsches Namenbuch (he only has Thorbod; I don’t have the entry DOR, as I didn’t copy all the pages, but there would be a reference under THOR).ROROLF/DOROLF is mentioned in H.Kaufmanns supplementary volume (1968), but again no DORBERT.Still I agree to the interpretation “thor” + “beraht.” We probably won’t have to think too hard about the combination of the two, as there often is no semantic connection between name elements.
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Thanks Andy. That appears make the "Thor" interpretation more acceptable.
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