What’s in a Name?

The Dilemma

Well, there it was.  Right there on my birth certificate.  “Odaffer.”   Small “d,” no apostrophe.

I had been using “O’Daffer”– capital D and an apostrophe all my life — and my name was listed that way as an author of a whole bunch of books.  And everywhere else.  All of my precious — but significant only to me — award plaques said “O’Daffer.”   Capital “D” and an apostrophe.

No way I could change the spelling now.  But I felt I was cheating on history.  If I could go back, I thought, I would darn well use “Odaffer.”

In fact, when they used Odaffer on my plumbing bill recently, I smiled and let it go — I sort of liked it.

Am I Alone?

Over the years, when I would interview a relative, the spelling of our name would often come up, and people did not always agree.  Here are a couple of examples.

A Quote from a California Relative:  “I can’t understand why some people have changed our name.  It has always been spelled “O’Daffer” with an apostrophe and capital “D”!   I just don’t like people messing with our name.”

 A Quote from an Illinois Relative:  “ Somebody, I don’t know who, tried to make our name Irish.  Well, we’re German.  It is “Odaffer” with a small d and no apostrophe.  Always has been.  Its just foolishness to try to change it.”

So others have had consternation about the spelling of our name.  I was not alone!

What to Do About It?

In a fit of humor, I thought  “WWJD?”   Not quite what you thought, perhaps.

I was thinking, “What would Johann Wolfgang, my great, great, grandfather who came here from Germany do?

So I went back to Johann Wolfgang and his ancestors, to get the name straight.  Johann Wolfgang Odorfer, or Odoerfer — in some records.  Johann’s father — Marcus Ohdorffer.  Marcus’s grandfather — Stephan Ohdorfer.  And Stephan’s grandfather, way back in 1560 — Heinrich Ohdorfer.

But wait!  What about the prized name “Odaffer”?  Yes, I found it.  Johann Wolfgang Odoerfer, like a lot of German soldiers who stayed in America, simplified his name.  He used “John Odaffer.”  It was his “Americanized Name,” so to speak.

But it didn’t end there.  I took another peek at the 1780,1790, or 1800 census information.  I guess the census takers were people that were somewhat hard of hearing, and a little lax about “getting the name right.”

The census is replete with names of Johann Wolfgang and his descendants spelled “Odeffer,” “Odoffer,” and even “Odofer.”

Looking further, I think I found that the name “O’Daffer” was first used by one of John Odaffer’s children — John B’s branch.

My guess is that one of the kids married an Irish lady, and the name Odaffer was just too close to an Irish name to pass up, so she changed to the more “stylish and Irish” spelling — “O’Daffer”

And my oldest sister Wanda, finding out that the Decatur branch of Odaffers used “O’Daffer,” could not resist the classier moniker either, and used it in High School. I followed her in school, and just fell into using “O’Daffer” because that’s the way the High School spelled it.

So it seems that there is, and always has been, confusion about the spelling of this reasonably interesting name.  Not much anyone can do.

A Final Word

So there you have it.  With all the changes in spelling through the years, no one has a claim on the “correct spelling.”

But, after Johann Wolfgang chose it as his American name, my great, great grandfather, my great grandfather, my grandfather, and my dad all used “Odaffer,” and that should have been good enough for me.

(Woops, I just noticed that someone, on my great grandfather’s death certificate, spelled his name “David O’daffer.” Small d and an apostrophe.)   Oh Well…