Re: Michael Reeb of Alsace and Butler County OH
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In reply to:
Michael Reeb of Alsace and Butler County OH
2/10/02
I realize your message is old and you may not see this however it has been a long time since I posted often on this forum. Just like Richard M. Nixon, I wish to make it perfectly clear to anyone who thinks that the name Reeb is sadly mistaken. The pronunciation of the name REEB in German sounds like Rape. Thus many if not all Germans who came to the U.S. with the name of REEB would pronounce their name like Rape or as that was the correct pronunciation of the name. I know of two different ways that caused a lot of people who bear the name Rape to think their German name was Rapp. One a lawyer in Texas almost 40 or more years ago could not find a name on a German Ship list for the Rape family so he found a Rapp who arrived PA on the St. Andrews Gally and told many they were descendants of that Johann Peter Rapp. Another way this got started was because a Reeb who was born Reeb name supposedly changed his name to Rapp to escape the negative connotation of the word rape. In German Rapp is pronounced more to sound like R(ah)p as the a in german is sounded as ah so Rapp. Reeb is pronounced Rape as in German the b is interchangeable with P and the e is pronounced like an English A. The name Reeb is German for Vine...usually in Europe the grape vine. John V. Reeb