Re: Origin of Walpeter
in reply to a message by krysia
Since you haven't gotten another reply, I thought I'd take an educated guess ...
It's best if separate the syllables.and check in German. It is definitely been Americanized so you'll likley have to live with a best guess.
Wal- in German can mean a few things. Yes, it can be a wall like we have in English, but it can also mean a representative, such as a lawyer or an advocate. That makes sense.
Wal- is also often a root in many words that mean foreigner such as we find in Wales, Welch, Walsh and Wallach ...sort of "beyond the wall" if you will ...
-peter in almost all senses, unless there is some soundex mistake, would mean earth, land, ground, property, etc.
So take this where you will ...it's never a perfect science ...
Peter
It's best if separate the syllables.and check in German. It is definitely been Americanized so you'll likley have to live with a best guess.
Wal- in German can mean a few things. Yes, it can be a wall like we have in English, but it can also mean a representative, such as a lawyer or an advocate. That makes sense.
Wal- is also often a root in many words that mean foreigner such as we find in Wales, Welch, Walsh and Wallach ...sort of "beyond the wall" if you will ...
-peter in almost all senses, unless there is some soundex mistake, would mean earth, land, ground, property, etc.
So take this where you will ...it's never a perfect science ...
Peter
Replies
Thank you for that information... it all helps, now just need to find a few more people with the same name..
thanks again
thanks again
In searching on genealogy sites, I'd use the soundex option which will pull names that sound like or are close proximities to your name ...As I mentioned, it most likely change when it came to America ...
Good luck!
Good luck!