SURNAMES IN GERMANY

Phonetics

In Germany names were spelled phonetically. Over the several generations a surname can change. For example Porsch could be spelled Porsch, Borsch, Porschke, or Busch. Also it depended on whether the writer used high or low German. Each village developed their own dialect. the farther the person was away from their village the more chance of the name being spelled differently.

Sources: LDS website, A Geneological Handbook of German Research, Chapter 7: Analyzing surnames and placenames