Comments on: Changes in Orthography

By: Antra

Antra — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:49:15 +0000

You can use Baltic Maps for modern maps, but for older ones you would need to acquire them from Jāņa Sēta. You can get detailed maps on CD from them. The parishes that border Vecpiebalga (in the 1930s) are: Skujene, Ērgļi, Jumurda, Vējava, Mezdula, Veļķi, Jaunpiebalga and Taurene.

By: Christina Driksna

Christina Driksna — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:55:26 +0000

If you do see Driksna be sure to let me know Do you know of any good maps of latvia? The ones I’ve found online aren’t that helpful. I don’t know which parishes neighbor Vecpiebalga.

Stigma, that is interesting. The translator I’ve been using online said it meant Floss. I told my husband that and he just about died laughing.

By: Antra

Antra — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:52:16 +0000

Christina,

I don’t believe Drīksna and Vīksna would be the same name (though Viksna, Viksne and Wihksna are). They are both Latvian words with very different meanings. “Vīksna” is a common Latvian surname derived from a type of elm tree, while “Drīksna” can have a variety of meanings – the dictionary gives the translation as “stigma”, but my etymological dictionary gives the word an origin in botany referring to a part of a flower. I have not seen this surname before.

If you’re certain that your husband’s grandparents were from the same parish, I would recommend looking at the neighbouring parish records as well, to see if they happened to attend a church in a different one. This was not uncommon, and can sometimes resolve the mystery easily. I spent a long time looking at the Vijciems registers trying to find my great-great-grandmother’s birth and marriage records, but when I finally gave up and looked in Lugaži, the parish to the north, I found what I was looking for almost immediately. Best of luck!

By: Christina Driksna

Christina Driksna — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:26:02 +0000

In searching Raduraksti, I was able to find my husbands Paternal grandmother’s family Kepitis. I have had much more difficulty finding his Paternal grandfathers family Driksna. I searched the same set of records and the closest names that I could find were Viksna, Viksne & Wihksna. Could this be the same surname or are they completely separate surnames?

By: Antra

Antra — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:45:41 +0000

I do. My last name, Celmiņš, in old orthography was usually written Zelmiņ. Additionally, nominative forms of male names almost always end in -s or -š, which is why the -s would have been added. There are a few names that do not end in -s or -š in male nominative forms, but they are relatively rare.

By: Janis Cakars

Janis Cakars — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:55:50 +0000

My father says that his grandfather spelled the surname ZACKER. But after the change, it became CAKARS. This is often confused with CHAKARS. I can’t put the little v over the C.

So, do you think that ZACKER could have become CAKARS?