The German Family Trait Test — Do You Have Any of These 20?

Comments · 217

• NA

  @namedbyhistory · 10 days ago (edited) · pinned

  Thank you for being here. Which of the 20 did your family do, and what is your surname? We read every comment, and the names that keep appearing become future episodes. For a full trace of your own name, we do that at <a href="http://namedbyhistory.com/">namedbyhistory.com</a>.

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• DD

  @DD-wx3ho · 6 days ago

  I’m adopted. No one ever thought I was German, it was not reported on my Birth Certificate. As a child under 10, I woke up every Saturday morning by myself and watched German Language movies when we had only 3 or 4 stations in LA. My soul knew.

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• RO

  @robviousobviously5757 · 6 days ago

  Grandma always asked, &quot;you want pie, no?&quot; as a kid I wasn&apos;t sure what reply got me pie.. so I said &quot;pie please&quot; assuring I got a slice.. I miss her pie..

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• TH

  @Thomas-d5j3s · 9 days ago

  Growing up we had candles on the tree instead of electric lights. Tree was brought into the house on the 24th, decorated and gifts exchanged that evening.

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• SU

  @susanharrison7497 · 9 days ago (edited)

  17 of these are and have been part of my life since I was a child in the Pennsylvania German areas, Lebanon and Lancaster Counties. My ancestors were early German settlers of Eastern Pennsylvania counties about 300 years ago and a little longer. Since my ancestors stopped farming, the barn art is not part of my life but is ancestral. Kindergarten was not started for me in our town but came later, and Advent was practiced by many of my relatives who were Protestant but we did not practice that at home, &nbsp;I really enjoyed this episode and like your channel very much because it brings back names, places, and the stories of my ancestors, thank you very much.

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• KA

  @kathykexel7753 · 8 days ago

  The first dinner of the New Year for my German family was oyster stew.

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• M.

  @m.inthedesert7134 · 10 days ago

  My great-grandmother was known as Anna Kaiser, and so was her sister. That confused the heck out of me when doing the family genealogy. We celebrated Xmas on the 24th when I was growing up &amp; I always had an Advent calendar. I love German Christmas traditions

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• DO

  @donaldjensen · 1 day ago (edited)

  My surname is Jensen but my mother was a Schrupp and her mother was a Franck! &nbsp;My early years were spent in Young America, MN and the town had a late summer festival called Stiftungsfest, which is still celebrated every August. &nbsp;I am apparently half German and half Danish, but really I am just a plain old American! &nbsp;We celebrated Christmas Eve with my Jensen relatives and Christmas Day with my Schrupp relatives. &nbsp;I had Advent Calendars with pictures behind the doors as a kid and we would put up a Christmas tree in early December! &nbsp;When I was a little kid a lot of elderly people would still speak German every day, this was in the 1960’s and I am sure there are very few German speakers left by now.

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• DI

  @dianatrott5359 · 6 days ago

  I&apos;m mostly German on my mother&apos;s side. Our German culture proofs... my sentence structure as a child caused a teacher to ask my mother if we were German; tradition of fried donuts and donut holes every Fat Tuesday; saurkraut and weiner sausage with mashed potatoes a family favorite; St. Nickolas Day stockings of nuts; the disgusting rum-spiked fruit cake at Christmas; real Christmas tree in living room with memento ornaments with some hand made and glass ornaments including glass ice sickles; furniture tops had to have a white, starched crocheted doillie; dip everything in milk, coffee, tea or gravy; saying gesundheit was mandatory response to sneezes; the rule -- Children should be seen and not heard--practiced when we had company or visiting family or family friends.

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• HA

  @hanne5678 · 17 hours ago

  In Germany, &quot;Kindergarten&quot; is a daycare for kids before they start school. The school year before Grade 1 is called &quot;Vorschule&quot; - pre-school. So strange that it is the opposite here.

• JO

  @joshmyers-nt9dr · 9 days ago

  my wife&apos;s side of the family is solid German-&quot;you must follow the rules&quot;

  6

• TO

  @tommunyon2874 · 8 days ago

  Maternal grandparents were born to German-American families in the Minneapolis area. Even at that they would have arguments stemming from their knowing different dialects of German. Their family custom was that Santa was the one who brought and decorated the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. They awoke to find a tree lit with real candles surrounded by presents. The candles were extinguished after only being lit briefly, and before everyone left the parlor.

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