I wrote two days ago: <The first known member of the family was Mousche BUTTGE
of Wetzlar, Germany {1734}. The name was changed to BUDGE in 1815, by Moritz
[Henry's father], who was born in Wetzlar on 15 April 1802 to Salomon BUTTGE
[Henry's grandfather].>

I puzzled about this overnight and have rechecked the data. On the website
<http://tinyurl.com/yxrm4z> indeed it says:

1802 Salomon's son Moritz was born on 15 April in Wetzlar
1815 Moritz BUTTGE goes to Frankfurt und changes the writing/spelling of his
family name to BUDGE.
1816 Moritz BUDGE starts to work with the company M. B. RINDSKOPF [share
dealers/traders].

It does seem strange to me that a young German boy of 13 changes his name from
BUTTGE to BUDGE in 1815. This does not seem like a German name or word and most
would assume it was an anglicized version of BUTTGE. However, apparently the
name change had nothing to do with Henry who travelled to the USA for the first
time in 1866. Is possible that this is how the name BUTTGE was pronounced in
that region, so that young Moritz thought he would render it into a
phonetically correct version?

I note that the name still exists in Germany today. I wonder how it is
pronounced?

Celia Male [U.K.]