Naming Conventions in Schaumburg-Lippe

1. Two given names, but only one “real” everyday name

By your period, it was normal for German children to be baptized with two forenames (sometimes more). Very often:

  • Boys: first name = Johann / Johannes / Hans

  • Girls: first name = Anna or Maria (or Anna Maria),

  • Second (or later) name = the Rufname — the “call name” actually used in daily life. (Family Tree Magazine)

So a boy written in the register as “Johann Heinrich Krückeberg” was often just “Heinrich Krückeberg” in everyday speech and in some later records. Same person, different shorthand.

Some pastors later underlined the Rufname in official documents, but that practice isn’t universal. (Wikipedia)

For your ancestors this means:

  • Johann Heinrich = devotional “Johann” + usable Rufname “Heinrich”

  • In later entries you may see him as Heinrich Krückeberg, Joh. Heinr. Krückeberg, or just Johann Heinrich, depending on the clerk.

2. Why Johann and Heinrich keep repeating

Across German-speaking Protestant Europe in your timeframe, Johann/Johannes/Hans was the ubiquitous male baptismal name, just as Anna/Maria were for women. It reflects a mix of late-medieval saint-naming and later Protestant fondness for biblical names. (karenmillerbennett.com)

On top of that, there’s the family-honour pattern you know from English discussions, which is also attested in German practice:

  • 1st son often named after paternal grandfather

  • 2nd son often named after maternal grandfather

  • Later sons reused important names from uncles or godparents. (clairegebben.com)

Combine that with the “Johann + Rufname” formula and you get villages full of:

  • Johann Heinrich

  • Johann Friedrich

  • Johann Christian

  • etc.

In your Petzen and Frille books, you’re seeing exactly that pattern playing out in a small, fairly endogamous community.

3. Where does Jobst fit in?

Jobst is an old north-German given name, a regional form ultimately related to Jodocus / Jodok (from Saint Judoc). It shows up especially in northern and north-western Germany, including Lippe and Schaumburg, where you have nobles like Jobst Hermann, Count of Schaumburg and Jobst Hermann zur Lippe-Biesterfeld in the 17th century. (Wikipedia)

So in your area:

  • Jobst has long-standing usage and some local prestige.

  • Jobst Heinrich is structurally the same pattern as Johann Heinrich:

    • Devotional or traditional first name (Jobst),

    • Distinguishing Rufname (Heinrich).

In practice that man might appear in different records as:

  • Jobst Heinrich Krückeberg (formal, in baptisms or confirmations),

  • Heinrich Krückeberg,

  • Or occasionally just Jobst Krückeberg, if the pastor chose the other half of the compound as the “important” piece.

4. What this means for your Berenbusch Krückebergs

Side-by-side Johann Heinrichs and Jobst Heinrichs in Berenbusch around 1780–1820 are exactly what I’d expect given:

  • Two-part names with a Rufname that may not be the first element, (Price Genealogy)

  • Strong re-use of favourite male names,

  • A small colony where cousins often honour the same grandparents and godparents.

For your analysis it implies:

  1. Same man, multiple labels. Don’t assume “Johann Heinrich Krückeberg” and “Heinrich Krückeberg” are different men. Check:

    • Stätte / house-number (e.g. Nr. 10),

    • Wife’s name,

    • Occupation,

    • Residence (Berenbusch vs another colony).

  2. Different men, same compound name. You can have cousins both called Johann Heinrich Krückeberg, especially if they share grandfathers or sponsors. Distinguish them by:

    • Different house numbers,

    • Different wives,

    • Different occupations or colonies,

    • Age offsets in confirmation/marriage/burial entries.

  3. Watch later records. In 19th-century civil or later church registers one of your "`Johann Heinrich`"s might suddenly be recorded just as Heinrich Krückeberg. That’s not a new person; it’s the Rufname finally written alone.

  4. Women follow the same pattern. In your Petzen/Frille books you’ll likely see many Anna Catharina, Anna Maria, Maria Elisabeth etc., where the second name is the functional one (Catharina, Elisabeth …). (Legacy Tree)

5. TL;DR specific to “Johann Heinrich” and “Jobst Heinrich”

  • Yes, there were specific naming practices in your time/place.

  • Formula: [very common first name] + [Rufname]

    • Johann / Jobst = conventional first element

    • Heinrich = actual call name in many cases

  • Berenbusch being small, you’ll naturally get several Johann/Jobst Heinrich Krückebergs across two or three generations.

If you’d like, you can paste one little cluster of entries (say, 3–6 records for a single “Johann Heinrich” you’re struggling with), and we can walk through them together and decide how many distinct men you’re really dealing with.

That’s exactly the general pattern—but not a rigid, always-followed rule.

Common custom (not a law)

In late-18th- and early-19th-century north-German Lutheran families—Schaumburg-Lippe, Minden, Lippe, Hanover, Westphalia, and neighboring areas—the naming order by grandparent was a customary ideal, not an obligation:

Child Usual namesake Notes

1st son

Paternal grandfather

Honors the father’s lineage and keeps the farm name with the paternal line.

2nd son

Maternal grandfather

Balances the maternal side.

1st daughter

Maternal grandmother

2nd daughter

Paternal grandmother

This pattern appears frequently in your Petzen and Frille registers—but there are many exceptions.

Why it wasn’t categorical

  1. Infant mortality. If a child died, the next child of the same sex often received the same name (“repetition naming”).

  2. Godparents (Paten). A sponsor might be honored instead of a grandparent, especially if the godparent was socially important or a childless uncle/aunt.

  3. Farm succession. The heir to a Stätte sometimes received the father’s own given name rather than the grandfather’s, reinforcing continuity on that property.

  4. Devotional names. Pious or fashionable choices—Johann, Jobst, Heinrich, Friedrich, Maria, Catharina—could override the strict alternation.

  5. Limited name pool. In small colonies like Berenbusch, the same 8–10 forenames recurred endlessly, so the order of inheritance had little distinctiveness.

In summary

✅ Typical principle:

1st son → paternal grandfather 2nd son → maternal grandfather 1st daughter → maternal grandmother 2nd daughter → paternal grandmother

🚫 But not mandatory—social, religious, or practical factors could easily shift it.

If you’d like, I can show a short table using a real Krückeberg household (say, Jobst Heinrich Krückeberg Nr. 10 and his wife) to illustrate how the pattern fits—or doesn’t fit—their children’s baptism names in your Petzen register. Would you like that?