52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2019 Week 3 Prompt - Unusual Name

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

2019

Week 3

Prompt – Unusual Name

This past week I received a message in Ancestry from a women by the last name of Doering. We are trying to figure out how we are related. As of yet that is to be determined. The first appearance of a Doering in my family tree is my great great grandmother on my maternal side. 

In fact my grandmother McLaughlin mentioned a Dearing in her oral history. In this case when she says “your grandma”s”, she is speaking to her nephew, my first cousin once removed and thus it would be my great grandmother. 

I don't know if it is really that unusual of a name, but I did want to explore it a bit. This line has been traced back by an Ancestry member to Hans Sr. Doering born in 1559. And believe it or not he would be my 10^th great grandfather.

There are a few different spellings such as Doering, Dearing, Doring, Döring and Deering to name a few. According to Ancestry Learning Center, Doering is an ethnic name for someone from Thuringia, Germany. Elisabeth Barbara Doering, my great great grandmother was born in Warenburg, Samara, Russia in 1840. You would have to climb up my family tree to my 5th Great grandfather to find a Doering from my tree who was born in Germany.  Johann Döring, born 1748, moved from Darmstadt,Germany to the Volga Region of Russia around 1767. This Johann was born to Adam Döring and Apollonia Huschenbeth. Apollonia is my 6^th great grandmother. I have never heard of this given name. In fact I only have one person in my tree with this given name. 

The biblical meaning of Apollonia is “perdition or destruction”. Ouch!

There is a Saint Apollonia from Alexandria and Apollonia became a very popular name in the middle ages and is invoked against toothaches. It means she is the patron saint of teeth??

My 9^th grand uncle in the same Doering family is Balthasar Baltzer Döring. He was born in 1645 in Thuringia Germany.  Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press ; “the main reason for the popularity of Balthasar in medieval Italy and Germany was that, according to legend, it was the name of one of the three Magi from the East who attended Christ’s birth. His supposed relics were venerated at first in Milan, but after 1164 in Cologne, where they had been taken by Rainald of Dassel. (Archbishop of Cologne)”

In the same Doering Family, my 1^st cousin 7 times removed is Bartholomäus Döring. It is not so much unusual as it is uncommon. Bartholomäus is the German form of Bartholomew. It is said that the name was common at the time because  Bartholomew was one of Jesus' 12 apostles.

My 7^th Great Grandfather is named Valentin Döring. He was born April 22, 1663 in Thuringia, Germany. Again the name is not unusual but seems to stand out as uncommon name for the time. Valentin means strong and healthy. Interestingly I found out it was the name of more than 50 saints and 3 Roman Emperors and a pope. The most famous saint is a third century Roman - Saint Valentine who was commemorated on February 14th. 

In the exploration of my Doering family I found a plethora of names such as Johann, Heinrich, Daniel, Anna, Catharina, Maria and Barbara. So many that they are easy to get confused from one Johann to its sibling Johann, to its grandson, Johann.  Thus these 4 unusual names - Apollonia, Balthasar, Bartholomäus and Valentin stand out as very unusual names.

Wendy