|
van der Laan, hi!
A pumkin is in german a "Kürbis" (kuerbis, u umlaut), maybe this is the reason for a mixup. An arrowhead is a Pfeilspitze (arrow=Pfeil, head=Spitze). Maybe this is a mixup also, as "head" is literally a 'Kopf' (for a man's head f.e.).
Kobes is still in use in the Rhine area, especially in Cologne. The waiter of a beer hall is called a 'Köbes' (o Umlaut), but it also based on some form of Jakob / Jakobus. Jacobs was born in the Rhineland area.
So I think, Kobes is really a short form of his name. It is not quite usual to shorten the family name, but there are other examples too.
H
|