HI Jesse: I am always pleased to hear from our BAGANZ/S relatives.

Are you interested in contacting other BAGANS families in the U.S.? If so, I've got a couple emails for you.

I've been researching the name BAGANZ (S/TZ/DT) and related spellings off and on for many years. Its a difficult name, relatively rare and very special to me. In fact, I kept it after I married.

Do you know if your relatives ever spelled the name BAGANS with a "Z" = BAGANZ?

You will find the name BAGANZ most often in East Germany around Berlin. German genealogists do not recognize the name as being German because German last names are either locations or professions, and they do not believe BAGANZ is either.

However, you will find a very small dorf/village south of Cottbuz in the southeast corner of Germany, near the Czech border, named BAGENZ. In the 1800's the majority of the population of that dorf were Sorb/Wend, currently the only recognized minority group in Germany, who lived in the area hundreds of years before the Germani tribe came. There were many bloody wars throughout the centuries, and the Sorbs/Wends were very strong and determined not to be completely assimilated. Many families did assimilate the German language and culture. My family spoke German and believed we were German, actually Prussian from Northern Germany.

You'll find today the Sorbs/Wends in Germany have their own language, universities, costumes, holidays, etc. The Germans and Wends still have difficulty with each other. There is tons of info on Wends/Sorbs on the Internet. There's also a Texas Wend Society. They can't confirm BAGANZ is Wend either.

The capital of the Wends was (might still be) Cottbuz. I contacted the Cottbuz Cultural Museum and asked about the etimology of the name BAGENZ, the dorf, and BAGANZ my last name. They mentioned the dorf was Wend but couldn't confirm whether or not the name BAGANZ is Wendisch. That was disappointing. Its still possible.

I'm still working on the etymology of the name because I'm not satisfied with the results. I think its more likely to be Wend rather than German. When a German genealogist looked in her who's who books for each European country, she only found BAGANZ in Germany, but as I said, Germans do not recognize the name as being German.

I've been using the spelling BAGANZ in this little write up, but phonetically BAGANS and BAGANZ is the same. Also, the other spellings I mentioned above are the same name but are different dialects from Germany, Poland, etc.

As a side: I thought it was interesting when I went to DMV to register a car and the woman who assisted me had a European accent. She ended up giving me a driver's license with the last name spelled BAGANTZ. I smiled and realized she was familiar with my name in her part of the world. She thought she was giving me my original name rather than the Americanized spelling.

I hope you're interested in finding your BAGANS relatives because I can probably give you some good leads.

I believe all BAGANZ' and BAGANS', etc., are related because there are few around the world.

Do you know where your BAGANS relatives came from before arriving in the US and when they arrived? Were there family stories that mentioned a change in the spelling? Do you believe your heritage is German? Have you done much research on your name? Could you tell me please how your family pronounces your name? I've found a couple different pronunciations in the US thus far. It might be a key as to which family we're from.

I hope to hear from you.

I hope I've helped you a bit.

Take care.

Vienna BAGANZ