The two branches of the family at present are the descendants of Philip George and Johan Peter, both sons of Frederick. Johan Peter emigrated to America in 1745, leaving among his descendants Edwin Thompson Denig, the subject of this treatise; Commodore Robert Gracie Denig, United States Navy, his son; Major Robert Livingston Denig, United States Marine Corps, a distinguished soldier of the World War, and Dr. Blanche Denig, a well-known woman physician of Boston. The descendants of Philip George include Dr. Rudolph C. Denig, professor of clinical ophthalmology in Columbia University, New York, N. Y. Ethnologically, it may be of more than passing interest to know that the name Denig was originally Denek(e), then Deneg, which was taken as a family name by Frederick Svensen at the time he left Denmark in 1709. Until then the family had followed the old Scandinavian custom of the son taking his father’s first name with the suffix sen or son as his family name. The Denigs came to their present name in the following manner: After the Kalmar War, 1611-1613, conditions in Denmark became critical, and the Danes were hard pressed for all the necessaries of life, especially foodstuffs. They were therefore forced to import grain from neighboring countries. So it happened that Ludvig Thorvaldsen, born in 1590, was sent by his father, Thorvald Christiansen, to Valen in Westphalia, a district still renowned for its agriculture, to buy corn. Ludvig went there every fall for three or four successive years. Eventually the Westphalians nicknamed him Deneke; “Den” meaning Dane, and the suffix “eke,” like “ike,” “ing,” and “ig,” a diminutive, derivative, or patronymic. Naturally this surname was not used at home, but it became useful when occasional trips took members of the family outside of Denmark. The use of such a nom de guerre has always been popular with Scandinavian and kindred races like the Friesians. As the supply of available names did not meet the demand, frequent similarity of names made it difficult to avoid losing one’s identity. When Frederick Svensen Deneg had settled in Biebrich-Mosbach the name Deneg had to undergo another change. While in the north the syllable “eg” is pronounced like “ek,” the Chatto-Franconian dialect around Mayence pronounces it like “esh.” Automatically, for euphonic reasons the name was dialectically changed to Denig. In former times such capricious changes in names were frequently made. In perusing old chronicles many names are found written in three or four different ways within one century. An instance to the point is the Frankish name of King Meroveg, who was also called Merovig, and his descendants were called Meroveger, Meroviger, and Merovinger, according to dialects spoken in the different regions of the former Frankish empire. This parallels the change of Deneg to Denig.