When the Schrader Family Association was founded in Berlin in 1920, many people bearing the name Schrader came together, some of whom were even related to each other. The connecting element was the family name; they were all namesakes and namesakes.

Mess (Kuddelmuddel)

Everyone can imagine it: a family day, lots of Schraders from all corners of the world gathered together in a cosy group. A waiter comes in and asks Mr Schrader to come to the phone. Several distinguished gentlemen stand up – but who is he referring to?

It was clear that a criterion was needed to distinguish between the namesakes, their families and their ancestors. A supplementary place name as a clan name was born.

Schrader (-Rottmersleben)

If I add the place where the earliest reliable evidence of the family was found to the family name, then I have a distinguishing feature and, on top of that, I have mentioned the place where the ancestors actually came from.

So all descendants of a Schrader who was first mentioned in Rottmersleben near Magdeburg were given the suffix Rottmersleben to the name Schrader. A solution to the muddle had been found.

This is still the case today: each individual clan is given the name of the place where the first reliable evidence was found. Alternatively, it is given the name of the place that has been handed down in family memories as “the origin”.

In the meantime, more than 250 clan names have been recorded in the family association in over 100 years of research, and nearly 150 associated family trees have been published.