Auntie Jen's Family Trees: Week 3: Unusual Name

   The topic this week for 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks is "Unusual Name". Well, gosh there are so many Unusual names out there, but most of my ancestors didn't have unusual first names. Oh I've got a full collection of interesting Surnames, but not first names. Just a sample of Surnames we have in our tree include Fuchs, Rickards, Strawhun, Buer, Spitz, Hilke, Mrazek, and that's just a few. So instead of trying to search my entire tree for an Unusual first name, I've decided to talk about one of the Unusual Surnames I have in my tree. One that has given me lots of trouble. One that when I first heard it I went, "What?". I am going to talk about the Surname, ILG.
   I know I just heard you say, "What?". I-L-G. When I write it or type it, I purposely capitalize the whole surname so it's clear since uppercase I and lowercase L look similar. The name is pronounced with the short 'i' sound as in igloo. To hear a pronunciation of the name, Click here ---> Surname Pronunciation. Do you know how unusual this name is in the United States? According to that website with the pronunciation, the likeliness of running into someone with that last name, chances are, most people haven't met someone with Ilg as their last name since less than 1 person in 417k people have that last name. If you know one, consider yourself lucky!
   While my last name is not ILG, I am related through my Grandma. That was her maiden name. Ruth Mary ILG. She is the daughter of Joseph Melchoir ILG and Margaret May Edna Buer. Joseph was born in St. Louis, Missouri along with his brothers and sisters. His parents immigrated from Germany and were married in St. Louis. His parents were Franz (Frank) Jakob ILG and Pauline Kimmerle. Thanks to a family datebook that had been passed down from Pauline, I was able to find where in Germany both sides of the family came from. This is my most treasured possession.

With this information, and with a little help from some German Genealogy Facebook groups and a lady in Germany who had done some research, I have been able to trace the family back into the early 1700s in Wuerttemberg, Germany. It was tricky trying to find information on the origin of the ILG surname. Doing my research I learned a little more about how Germans came up with their Surnames. Here is some basic information on German Surnames:

Origins of German Last Names

German surnames developed from four major sources:
Patronymic & Matronymic Surnames - Based on a parent’s first name, this category of surnames isn't as common in Germany as in many other European countries. Patronymic surnames are found primarily in the Northwestern areas of Germany, although they may be encountered in other areas of Germany. (Niklas Albrecht -- Niklas son of Albrecht).

Occupational Surnames - More commonly found in German families than almost any other culture, these last names are based on the person’s job or trade (Lukas Fischer -- Lukas the Fisherman). Three suffixes which often indicate a German occupational name are: -er (one who), commonly found in names such as Fischer, one who fishes; -hauer (hewer or cutter), used in names such as Baumhauer, tree chopper; and -macher (one who makes), found in names like Schumacher, one who makes shoes.

Descriptive Surnames - Based on a unique quality or physical feature of the individual, these surnames often developed from nicknames or pet names (Karl Braun -- Karl with brown hair).

Geographical Surnames - Derived from the location of the homestead from which the first bearer and his family lived (Leon Meer -- Leon from by the sea). Other geographical surnames in Germany are derived from the state, region, or village of the first bearer's origin, often reflecting a division in tribes and regions, i.e. low German, middle German and upper German. (Paul Cullen -- Paul from Koeln/Cologne). Surnames preceded by "on" are often clues to geographical surnames, not necessarily a sign that an ancestor was of nobility as many mistakenly believe. (Jacob von Bremen -- Jacob from Bremen).

A variation on locality names, farm names in Germany are names which came from the family farm. The thing which makes them different from traditional surnames, however, is that when a person moved onto a farm, he would change his name to that of the farm (a name which usually came from the farm's original owner). A man might also change his surname to his wife's maiden name if she inherited a farm. This practice obviously results in a dilemma for genealogists, with such possibilities as children in one family being born under different surnames.

Powell, Kimberly. "What Does Your German Last Name Mean?" ThoughtCo, Dec. 23, 2018, thoughtco.com/german-surnames-meanings-and-origins-1420789.

The following information I got from Ancestry.de about the surname ILG:

Origin: From shortened forms of Aegidius (Egidi), z.T. also by Ottilie derived surnames.

The name Ilg occurs a total of 1449 times in 169 counties. There are an estimated 3864 people with this last name. This is above the average for all German surnames. It is now at 2248th place of the most common names.

Most people with the surname Ilg were found in Ostalbkreis; the name appeared 216 times in the phone book. Only a few live in Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, with 1 telephone book entries. Click here to view a map

As I stated before, this surname has caused me a lot of trouble when it came to researching. When searching for them in the 1930 US Federal Census, I had to go page by page looking for them. They were listed with the surname "Elk". I've seen it spelled Illg, Lg, Iillg, Elg, along with a few other spellings. Surprisingly though, when I finally crossed over into Germany, finding the name became easier. And even though I may still hit snags, I will not give up. The search will continue.