Hello Micah, Congratulated with your masters degree in Aerospace Engineering !!! You must have worked very hard the last years ! It took me 7 years to finish the study Electrical Engineering (1961-1968) at the Technical University of Eindhoven. I got the idea that you had already "de-americanized" you name to the original German spelling: Leibbrand From my on-line L-family tree: "Manner of writing of the family name: Leibbrandt - Leibbrand - Leibrand - Leibrandt - Leipprand - (in USA:) Lybrand - Leibrant - (in UK:) Liebbrandt. Before 1600 spelled as: Leutprand - Leuttbrand - Leuprandt - Laibbrant - Layprand - Leihbrand - Leiprand - Leiprandt - Leyprand. Before 1200 spelled as: Luitprand - Luitprant - Luitbrand. " Before 1550 no continuous record-keeping of the name existed. The name was incidentaly written, based on its pronunciation. In Latin and High German, before 1200, as Luitprand - Luitprant - Luitbrand. After about 1200 Low German came and the spelling changed - all the time based on the pronunciation - to Leutprand - Leuttbrand - Leuprandt - Laibbrant - Layprand - Leihbrand - Leiprand - Leiprandt - Leyprand See for example: "13-th century LEUBRANTSCHIRCHEN in the south of Bayern LIUTPRANTSCHIRCHEN is the first old name of the place Leberskirchen in the south of Bayern. In a certificate dated the year 1295, "LEUBRANTSCHIRCHEN" is mentionned as name for this place. (Als erster und damit frühester Ortsname ist LIUTPRANTSCHIRCHEN in althochdeutscher Sprachform zu erschließen. Urkundlich ist diese Namensform des Orts- und Siedlungsnamens im Jahre 1295 als "LEUBRANTSCHIRCHEN" überliefert worden.) " In about 1540 the first continuous church record-keeping was started with something like Leyprand , Leuprandt Leutbrand and also Leibbrand. Between 1540 and 1650 in most cases, the spellings changed to Leibbrand or Leibbrandt : - Leibbrand usually in the Ingersheim and Kirchheim branches, and - Leibbrandt sometimes in the Lauffen branch. So I think that you should consider Leibbrand as the most original spelling of your familyname. It is the spelling the name of your great-great-great-great-great-great-father: (7) JOHANN JAKOB Leibbrand Gen. 7 * March 17, 1782 in Klein Ingersheim, Württemberg, Germany, † ~ 1845 in America. Emigrated on April 19, 1831 to America, when he moved to America. I think that JOHANN LEIBBRAND and REBECCA SNYDER changed the names of their childeren to Leibbrandt You can ask that on Lorrie Deeter, see her (by me compiled, 400 KB) work in: http://www.leibbrandt.com/LEIBBRANDT_Archive/Leibbrand_USA/heinrich_all.htm Her e-mail: lorriedeeter@charter.net or/and http://www.hometrustadvantage.com/led.htm As second option you may consider to change to Leibbrandt , as this was the original name of Lewis Leonard when he changed it to Leibrant. The spelling Leibbrandt is not unknown in America. In the German church records between1650 and 1850 the spellings Leibbrand and Leibbrandt were interchanged frequently. - However: Consider Leibbrind and Liebbrandt simply as poor American and English spelling errors ! - Do you know 13B) Monica Lynn Leibrant Gen.13 monica.leibrant@gmail.com * 06. 19. 1980 B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA, 2002. Also : rue@u.washington.edu She is related to you and studies also at washington.edu , and is also interested in L-genealogy. Her mails are in http://www.leibbrandt.com/LEIBBRANDT_Archive/Monica_Leibrant Best regards, success as Aerospace Engineer, enjoy the genealogy hobby and be pround on your family name. Hans Leibbrandt ___________________________________________________________________________ At 01:38 11-8-2006, you wrote: Hans, Greetings from America! I have looked at your sites progress of the past couple years, simply amazing. Your work is appreciated by so many Im sure. I have finished up my masters degree and now have some time on my hands. I now find myself tinkering with the USA branch of Leibbrands/Leibrants. I have a few questions maybe you could answer when you have a few moments. I was wondering about the naming convention. In my records I have the USA branch originated from the spelling of Leibbrand (Leibbrind on U.S. documents), yet on the site it is Leibbrandt. I see that on you page the name's spelling changed to Leibbrandt when the family immigrated to the States, even though the fathers name was Leibbrand. Is this reported on the site this way due to the traditional English form spelling? So what is this significance? I am interested in filing the paperwork and changing my surname back to Leibbrand, I think. Why? Well, I'm not really sure except that in the name Leibrant, my legal name, I feel something is lost. The name's origin is vague, due to its spelling, unless you recognize the 'ei'. Further the spelling leuprandt is the original spelling and is kept for 2 generations starting in 1605. Is this likely due to the lack of literacy at the time or is this a low to high German conversion? Thanks for your time and look forward to any insight you may have. Micah Leibrant University of Washington M Aerospace Engineering leibrm@u.washington.edu 206.913.3589 M Hans Leibbrandt Kievietlaan 4 5683RC Best, The Netherlands Phone +31 (0)499-398260 Mailto:hans@leibbrandt.com http://www.leibbrandt.com ****************************************************************************************** From: leibrm@u.washington.edu To: Hans Leibbrandt Subject: Re: The name Leibbrand, Leibbrandt, Leuprandt, Luitprant Hans, Thank you for the congratulations. As far as my name, last time we had written each other I was fully intending to change it. However, the amount of paperwork involved in changing all of my finances, student records, taxes, States IDs, etc, was a bit to much for me at that time. I was receiving supplemental aid to attend school at the time as well, and I didn't want to put that in delay or jeopardy (The school here is the slowest administrators I've run into yet). Now that I am done with school I have much more time. I will change it here shortly. Thanks again for the informative response. warm regards, Micah Leibrant University of Washington M Aerospace Engineering leibrm@u.washington.edu 206.913.3589 M