Anyone know the orgin of the name AUXT? I've been told it's probably a French spelling of a German origin

Question

Always run into roadblocks on geneology sites....assuming it's probably been changed at some point over the years.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Ever played over at www.familysearch.org??

Just to do a spot check for you, I entered the name with your spelling.  The intriguing answer is maybe in the results for the social security death index, which they popped out "soundex" (sounds like index).. having both a few of Auxt.. and many Augst.  (close your eyes and say it with an open mind.. good possibility that your family said Augst and it went down in the records as Auxt, and that isn't necessarily at Ellis Island).

Backing up to the top of the page, you find the index for 1880, which again automatically will compensate for possible alternate spellings.  Notice some of the birthplaces. If you click on the person, it brings up the full entry for him/her, then you can bring up the full household. The jazzy part is that 1880 was the first census to show the place of birth for the person AND for parents of the person.

the LDS site is free and has the entire 1880 census, but it is a transcription.  Ancestry has ALL the census records, with full images which give tons more info  (later ones may include year of immigration, for example).

Since I don't have your personal records .. nor should I.. YOU would have access to documents that may show your ancestor somewhere on this list above. Smart persons won't post the name of living persons, but you can post gr grandpa and his details if he is dead and safe.

Your roadblock *might* be the perception of right/wrong spelling, which a few weeks of genealogy usually wipes out. You want the person, not the spelling.

Looking at the samples at the LDS site.. Switzerland, Germany, suggest that what you have been told, is very likely. Think Alsace-Lorraine, if you know history.. it is an area along the German/France border that has often been under either jurisdiction, depending on the victors of that year's war.

My advice is ALWAYS that generic files can be misleading. You can find your real ancestors, trace them through records, and very often locate the exact town/village that they came from. When using documents ... what you find is factual, and not a *maybe* from 500 yrs ago.  

I invite you to hang out here, and we can help you locate your own documents.

Answer 2

www.familysearch.org has these varied spellings:  AUGST ; & AUKEST ; as well as maybe 1 of your spelling.

Listings are from SWITZERLAND;  AUSTRIA; GERMANY;

SWEDEN; and varied states in the USA.

Could this be a relative of yours? It's the one spelling I mentioned above--

George A. AUXT

Birth:   Abt. 1901 , Chambersburg, Franklin, Pa

I looked on ancestry.com and they also do not have a meaning for any of the spellings above, but at least you know it IS of Germanic origin (German is spoken in Austria, too)