And, So It Begins

Wanzenried. 

"That's a different name." 

"What nationality?"

It's Swiss-German. 

"And, how do you pronounce it?"

And, so it goes. 

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The name really is easy to pronounce after once hearing its proper pronunciation.

The first attempts, however, are predictable

There are any number of words beginning with "wa" where the most common pronunciation of the "a" is like the "a" in "walk" or "wander." In the Harriet Harrison scheme of phonetics, it would be ,"short 'a,' ah."

It's hard to identify an actual word beginning with "wa" where the pronunciation resembles the first attempt by the uninitiated to pronounce Wanzenried. Think of the sound of the "a" in the word 'wand' or the sounds of a wailing baby, "wha, wha, wha."

Next, the combination of the letter "n" and letter "z" seemingly has always been a barrier. The only family member I ever heard depart from the conventional pronunciation was our Brother, Richard. He had a tendency to pronounce it 'wanz en ried,' placing the emphasis on 'wanz,' almost like the word 'once.' 

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Once the pronunciation hurdle is cleared, it's on to the spelling.

For those of us honored to carry the name, it's a lifetime of spelling it, at least once every day. 

Yes, there is only one correct spelling but dozens of variations. 

Even after having been admonished since the second grade that "i" always comes before "e" except after "c," the most common misspelling is Wanzenreid.

Then, inevitably, an "n" is dropped, resulting in Wazenreid and Wanzereid.

There are others, but, we'll leave that exercise to others. 

The point is that we have the name.

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This is a story about the Wanzenried Family and how life unfolded to bring its members together and others into existence. 

Many of us know a tiny bit about our ancestors, and, most of that knowledge is on the Wanzenried side. There are fascinating twists and turns in the lives of others that brought together the Voegili’s, the Tabbs, the Galli’s, the Paces, the Schmutz’s, the Dunns.

Many of these family names have died out. In fact, the Wanzenried name in our branch is doomed unless Nick and Tiffany have a child and include Wanzenried somewhere in the child's name. The name remains mildly common elsewhere.

Despite the gloomy prospect of our name disappearing, we still have dozens of relatives roaming around in Kansas, Oregon, Virginia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, most with different last names. 

So, as a way of connecting with them, let’s begin with our Grandfathers, Friedrich and Kenneth