See blog post at this link: Germanologyunlocked
https://library-mistress.net/hofnamen/einleitung/#_ftnref21/ Library Mistress blog
See this article: Onomastica_Lipsiensia_Band06_Familiennamen_im_Deutschen_Teilband1_2009/
Multiple peer-reviewed studies, monographs, and academic papers address the linguistic and socio-legal complexities of the Hofnamen system in Germany. German scholars usually analyze this phenomenon through two distinct academic lenses: Onomastics (historical linguistics/name research) and Agrarian Legal History (Agrargeschichte).
The following key German-language scholarly works explore the Hofnamen practice:
Linde, Roland. Familienname contra Hofname: Erbfolge und Benennungspraxis im Westfälischen Bauernstand.
This highly cited study analyzes the direct competition between fixed inherited family names and changing farm names. It evaluates how Westphalian courts and church parishes navigated cases where land records and baptismal registers contradicted each other. [1]
Bach, Adolf. Deutsche Namenkunde. Band 1: Die deutschen Personennamen.
A foundational multi-volume encyclopedia of German naming conventions. Bach provides extensive linguistic analysis on how geographic features (Naturnamen) and societal functions (Kulturnamen) originally formed the lexical roots of northwestern farm estate titles before they transformed into pseudo-surnames. [2, 3]
Kollmann, Cristian, et al. Familiennamen im Deutschen: Erforschung und Dokumentation.
Published via the University of Leipzig, this volume tracks the evolution of regional naming types. It features specific sections on northwestern Metronymische Namen (cases where a husband adopted his wife's ancestral farm name because she was the legal property heir). [4, 5]
Homeyer, Karl Gustav. Das Haus- und Hofmarken.
A classic 19th-century legal-historical treatise. Homeyer provides deep structural context on how early medieval property marks, tenant duties, and localized estate boundaries evolved into the formal legal alias systems (like vulgo and modo) used by state land registries later on. [6]
Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte. Historische Kommission für Niedersachsen und Bremen.
This academic annual carries specialized peer-reviewed papers tracing northern agricultural properties (Bole, Meierhöfe) across Hannover, Oldenburg, and Brunswick. It routinely evaluates property inventories and tax records to see how estate names outlasted individual family bloodlines. [7]
If you want to pull original digital dissertations or PDF scans through portals like the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek or university open-access servers, use these academic German search phrases:
Genanntname und Hofübernahme (Alias names and estate acquisition)
Anerbenrecht und Namenswechsel (Undivided property inheritance and name changes)
Bäuerliche Benennungspraxis (Peasant naming practices)
Gemini generated.