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The name BENTSCHNEIDER can be also found in the following variations: - BENDSCHNEIDER - BENDTSCHNEIDER - BENTSNIDER The origin is the same: it is based on the profession of the “Bandschneider” the ribbon cutter, i.e. a person who cut the ribbons that held barrels together. The different variations in the spelling of the name are to be attributed to the fact that the majority of the rural population was illiterate up to the later part of the 19th century. Thus, those few who could read and write such as ministers, civil servants or generally educated persons determined on hearsay how a name was spelled. During the genealogical research one stumbles across the various spelling variations for the same person during his or her life. This can be accredited to several circumstances, e.g. a new minister in the congregation who was not familiar with the local dialect. A family’s name could have been spelled e.g. with a T over decades in one congregation and with the arrival of a new minister the name began to be spelled with a D. In the church books of St. Mary’s Church in Neubrandenburg in Mecklenburg I even noticed some entries which were originally written with a T, which was later crossed out and changed to a D or DT. Which one of the variations actually came first remains unknown. Only with the introduction of the civil registry offices in 1876, the spelling of last names became somewhat set in stone. However, it took probably until the beginning of the 20th century for the last names to finally remain unchanged
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