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Re: Romansh names
As far as I know, Pirmin is not (only) a Romansh name but rather a very old and quite rare German name as well: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirmin
Some time last year, I did some research on Romansh names myself and I foundGeronas, Gironnas, Jaronas listed as Romansh forms of Hieronymus / JeromeDuri, Durs and Durisch were listed as Romansh (short) forms of Dorian / Doriano
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It seems that the Pirmins listed in the German Wikipedia are all from Switzerland (except one who live at the Swiss frontier). And unfortunately they don't give its etymology...The Durs-Dorian equivalence seems folk etymology. The Duden Vornamenlexikon says that it is of uncertain origin, maybe from Old High German ''thurs/turs'', demon/giant, or from ''Sankt Urs''>''Sank Turs''>''Durs''. So it probably is a regional southern Germanic name and not an actual exclusive Romansch name (it's just diffuse among Romansch people).
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