Months

In most cases you will be able to determine the names of the months in old German & Latin records, as most of the names will be familiar to English speakers, with some minor spelling variations.  You will also sometimes encounter specific abbreviations for the last four months of the year: '7ber' meaning September, '8ber' meaning October, '9ber' meaning November, and '10ber' meaning December.  Alternately, December is also sometimes abbreviated using the Roman Numeral as 'Xber.'  (I have never personally come across an instance of the first eight months of the year being abbreviated with similar numeric abbreviations, or of the use of a Roman Numeral in an abbreviation for any month other than December).

This list includes of many of the spelling variations & abbreviations for months that we have come across in our research:

January: 

Januar, Jannar, Janner, Jänner, Jaenner, Jeanner, Jäner, Jenner, January, Januarÿ, Januarius, Janearius, Jän, Jan

February:  

Februar, Febrüar, Februarius, Febrearius, Februarÿ, Feber, Febr, Feb

March:  

Marz, März, Martÿ, Martii, Martius, Martio, Märr, Maerz, Marcÿ

April:  

April, Aprillis, Apprilis, Apprillis, Aprill, Aprillis, Apr

May:  

May, Maÿ, Mai, Maj, Majus, Majo, Maius, Maji

June:  

Juni, Junii, Junius, Junio, Juny, Junÿ

July:  

Juli, Julii, Julius, Julio, July, Julÿ

August:  

August, Augusti, Augustus, Augusto, Augst, Augu, Agst, Aug

September:  

September, Septembris, Septembri, Septemb, Septmbr, Septber, Septbr, Septb, Sept, 7ber, 7bris, 7br

October:  

October, Oktober, Octobris, Octobri, Oktobr, Octob, Oktob, Octbr, 8ber, 8bris, 8br, 

8ctrobris

November:  

November, Novembri, Novembr, Novemb, Novbr, Novb, Nove, Nov, Nvbr, Nbr, No, 9ber, 9bris, 9br

December:  

December, Dezember, Decembris, Decembri, Decemb, Dezemb, Decem, Dezbr, Decb, Dezb, Dec, Dez, 10ber, 10bris, Xber, Xbris, Xbr

Examples of each month written in the old script:

*Make sure to scroll all the way to the right of the chart to view all of the images.

Having trouble viewing the chart?  Click here to go directly to this chart on Google Sheets.

Sample Alphabet Letters

When trying to puzzle out a particularly tricky word, sometimes it helps to see several different examples of how certain Gothic letters were written.  I decided to compile a list of sample letters -- most of these samples came from online matriky books (vital records) on the Czech archive websites, and a few of them came from some of our old family letters.  I placed each letter in relationship to the line as it was written in the original source.

You are welcome to print these sample alphabet letter pages to use as a research help only, please do not use for any other purpose without permission.  Thank you!

Abbreviations

In your research you may have come across a symbol that sometimes resembles a large, loopy 'L,' and then a colon (:).  This 'L:' is a symbol that we've come across in many old Bohemian records meaning that the remainder of the word has been abbreviated.  We have found this symbol used in both German and Latin words.  Sometimes this symbol will follow just one letter and abbreviate the rest of the word, and other times it will follow one or more syllables of a word and replace just one or more letter(s).  I do not know why a priest would sometimes use this 'L:' symbol to indicate that he was abbreviating the end of a word, while at other times the same priest may have chosen to just use a colon (:) to indicate the same thing.

Although it can sometimes prove difficult to learn what the abbreviated word was (especially when there is only one letter followed by this abbreviation symbol), a search of the preceding and following pages in the book will likely reveal that the same word was used again, and often if you search through several pages you may find that the priest sometimes included the word without abbreviating it. 

Abbreviation for 'Promulgation' meaning 'proclamation' (as in the proclamation of marriage banns).

Abbreviation for 'September.'  (Notice that the record directly above this one uses the full word for 'September' without the abbreviation).

Two instances of the abbreviation for 'Hochloeblich' meaning 'highly commendable.'

Two instances of the use of this symbol, in the abbreviation for 'Eheweib' meaning 'wife' & for 'Töchterlein' meaning 'little daughter.'

Sample Town Names & Family Names

Several years ago my parents called me and told me they were going to the Czech Republic and they wanted to visit some archives to see if they could find any records about our ancestors.  That was back before my parents learned to transcribe the old gothic script, and at that time they didn't have much experience finding the peoples' names & town names in the records.  So I prepared a quick list with sample handwritten names from some of the records that we had for them to reference on their genealogy trip.  It helped them to find the records of our ancestors which they photographed, and we were able to transcribe & later translate them after they returned home.

So if you are just starting out with trying to find the names of places and people in records with Gothic script, it's a good idea to keep copies of sample handwritten names that you have found so far and use them as a reference while you are becoming more comfortable with reading the script.

Male Given Names in German Gothic Script

As a follow up to my previous post of sample female given names, here is my list of sample male names in the Gothic script:

Female Given Names in German Gothic Script

When learning to do Bohemian genealogy research, learning to read the German Gothic script can seem like an overwhelming task.  But with practice, it is possible to learn to decipher the handwriting (even if you don't speak/read German or Latin).  For most beginners, the easiest parts of handwritten vital records to identify are the peoples' names -- especially the more common names such as Anna, Maria, Joannes, Carl, Elisabetha, Andreas, Franz, Katharina, Anton, Georg, Rosina, Joseph, Theresia, Wenzl, etc.

Some time ago I compiled some samples of names in the Gothic script, which I found were helpful especially for beginning researchers who were learning how to recognize the letters and searching for vital records containing specific names.  Each of these samples came from the vital records of my ancestors, which were found on the websites of the Pilsen & Litomerice Archives in the Czech Republic.  I'll start by posting the female given names for now.

And these two cases are worth noting:

Deciphering Handwritten Records

When learning to decipher German & Latin vital records written in Bohemia, an alphabet chart with sample letters can be invaluable.  There are many such sample alphabet charts online, but this is my chart of choice.  This chart sat beside me through my first few years of intense research, and I still reference it today when I get stuck on a tricky bit of handwriting.  

This Alphabet Chart came from the 2011 article, "Helps for Translating That Old 
German Handwriting," an article with several other helpful handwriting samples and tutorials.