Tunnat (family name)

The surname Tunnat is of Lithuanian origin. There it is written Tunaitis to this day. According to linguists from Vilnius University, there is no concrete meaning of the name in Lithuanian . The East Prussian-German form Tunnat first appeared in what was then East Prussia in 1825 . The last name Tunnat is very rare in Germany with around 40 namesake. Apart from Germany, there are around 25 namesake in the USA as descendants of East Prussian emigrants of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition, there are more descendants of the Lithuanian branch of the family living in the USA under the name of Tunaitis than descendants of Lithuanian immigrants.

The origin of Tunaitis / Tunnat can be narrowed down to two places in Lithuania: Radviliškis (German Radwillischken) in the Šiauliai district (German Schaulen) and Juodpetriai (German Schwarzpeter) in the Tauragė region (German Tauroggen). Both places are connected with the high Lithuanian aristocratic family Radziwiłł . Radviliškis was founded by the Radziwills; Tauroggen was a family allod . Juodpetriai was a border town of the Tauroggen rule, there was a stagecoach station in town. From here a Tunaitis emigrated to Nemmersdorf ( Gumbinnen district ) in 1695 . Between 1695 and 1744 the spelling of the name changed from Tunaitis to Tunnaitis. From 1763 the spelling Tunnatis prevailed. From 1825 the name Tunnat is written. The Lithuanian part of the Tunnat family kept the traditional spelling Tunaitis. The most famous family member in present-day Lithuania was Juozas Tunaitis , the Archbishop of Vilnius who died in 2012 . A German family member who achieved sad and negative fame was Heinrich Tunnat .

Remarks

Due to the Second World War , the church book archives of East Prussia stored in Gumbinnen, Königsberg and Berlin were destroyed as originals. Marginal remnants have been preserved in the Leipzig State Archives . The Church of Jesus Christ has filmed all the church records of East Prussia since the 1920s and holds them in its central archive in Utah as microfilm . The East Prussian-German data on the Tunnat / Tunaitis family are in the parish registers of Nemmersdorf, baptism records 1669–1710, 1710–1764, 1764–1795, marriage book 1710–1764, 1764–1795, 1795–1825, death register 1751–1791, as well as in Register tape included. They correspond to the microfilm no. 1812654-1812657. The Lithuanian-Polish-Prussian-Russian documents that have been preserved are in the Vilnius State Archives.

Name bearer

see: Tunnat

Individual evidence

↑ Church book Nemmersdorf Heiratsbuch 1795–1825, p. 190 on the occasion of a marriage on June 28, 1825, the husband, who was still listed as Tunnatis in the baptismal register on August 15, 1794, is recorded for the first time in the church book as Tunnat.
↑ Statistics and meaning of the name Tunnat , Namespedia.
^ Central State Archives of Lithuania, register volume of the Tauroggen-Serrey dominion .

[1] Church book Nemmersdorf Heiratsbuch 1795–1825, p. 190 on the occasion of a marriage on June 28, 1825, the husband, who was still listed as Tunnatis in the baptismal register on August 15, 1794, is recorded for the first time in the church book as Tunnat.

[2] Statistics and meaning of the name Tunnat , Namespedia.

[3] Central State Archives of Lithuania, register volume of the Tauroggen-Serrey dominion .