Baltic Germans

[Learning_Genetics]

To what extent do the populations of ethnic Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians descend from the Baltic Germans?

I have heard that in Latvia the population switched in large numbers from German names to Latvian ones. Were these surnames indicators of German origins or were they simply from the Germanic nobility?

Thank you for the information.

[Ülev]

I predict this thread has potential

[Satem]

Well, the surnames were given in the 18th-19th century, so some people could choose German sounding surname to deceive people they are from nobility. But I think most of those German sounding surnames come from Germanic nobility. Most of those Germans moved to Germany after WWII. We also should remember that with time those genes got mixed with local ones so they are not really German genetically. Anyway I would tell that about 10% may have distinct German ancestry, mostly people who had people from urban areas for generations.

[Learning_Genetics]

Well, the surnames were given in the 18th-19th century, so some people could choose German sounding surname to deceive people they are from nobility. But I think most of those German sounding surnames come from Germanic nobility. Most of those Germans moved to Germany after WWII. We also should remember that with time those genes got mixed with local ones so they are not really German genetically. Anyway I would tell that about 10% may have distinct German ancestry, mostly people who had people from urban areas for generations.

Was it the same in Lithuania?

[Jana]

Not a Cop is member to answer your questions, he partly Baltic German

[Östsvensk]

Baltic Germans assimilated more Baltic genes into their group by taking local wives, I think. I don't have Baltic German ancestry, but I have distant German roots, that are possibly noble, on my paternal grandmother's side. The surname was kept for a very long time from when my German ancestor first settled in the early 18th century and married the women there for many generations up until my grandmother who had it as maiden name. My mother likes to try to claim the German ancestry as being much more recent than it really is, because who doesn't want to be noble, lol?

[Satem]

Was it the same in Lithuania?

Not really. Area called Minor Lithuania used to be part of Prussia, then Germany until 1945. There probably were many Germans and they got mixed with locals. City of Klaipeda had also many Germans, it had status of authonomy between World Wars. The rest of country probably had by far less Germans. The German impact in Lithuania except the western part is almost non existent

[Not a Cop]

Well, the surnames were given in the 18th-19th century, so some people could choose German sounding surname to deceive people they are from nobility. But I think most of those German sounding surnames come from Germanic nobility. Most of those Germans moved to Germany after WWII. We also should remember that with time those genes got mixed with local ones so they are not really German genetically. Anyway I would tell that about 10% may have distinct German ancestry, mostly people who had people from urban areas for generations.

I used to think the same way, but my grandad, who is 1/2 baltic German came out 49% Central and Western European.

[Loxie]

I have a small % of Baltic German ancestry. From what I've investigated in my family tree, for many generations those Germans married with local Latvian peasants, when a man married a Latvian woman she was "upgraded", so to speak, to the German upper class, whereas when a German woman married with a Latvian man she was downgraded to Latvian class. At least that's how it was in my family history.

Also my German ancestors were not part of nobility. Germans were considered the upper class, but they were not all noble, many of them simply had all kinds of respectable professions.

Here are some stats from Wikipedia:
By the end of the 18th century there were about 6.5% of Germans in the territory of Latvia, by the end of the 19th century the census of 1897 showed 7.1% of Germans.

Speaking of the German surnames, some landlords gave their serfs German sounding last names, while some allowed their people to choose their own names. So the last name alone is not an indication of German ancestry. And it is true that in the 1930s many Latvians changed their German names to Latvian.