In the families „HOBBIE from Apen“ the family name „Hobby“ has been written since 1581 again and again „Hobbie“. This line from Apen was already extinct at the beginning of the 19th century.
After „Hobbeie“ the family „HOBBIE from Zetel“ was written already since 1582 predominantly „Hobbie“, only from about 1722 to 1766 preferred Zeteler pastors the spelling „Hobje“.
In the „Fräuleinregister der Oldenburgischen Ämter“ of 1613 the Köter (small farmer) Eilert HOBBIE is listed with the „Hewbulter“ in the Vogtei Rastede. He is the oldest known ancestor of the ancestral line „HOBBIE from Rastederberg„, whose name has always been written as „Hobbie“ until today.
In the period from about 1717 to 1731 and again from 1828 to 1854 – at the same time as the Rasteder pastor Friedrich Christian Bonus (1772-1858) was in office from 1828 to 1858 – the spelling „Hobje“ can be found in the church books. Since some of the sons baptized in that period emigrated, the family name HOBJE is still used in other regions today.
Johann HOBBIE, who died as an „old miller“ in 1650, is the oldest known ancestor of the families „HOBBIE from Bokel„, whose name was also written as „Hobbie“ until today.
In the other lines with this name the permanent change of the previous spelling from „Hobby“, „Hobbye“, „Hobbi“ and „Hobje“ to „Hobbie“ took place later:
– in Torsholt about from 1805,
– in Linswege from about 1806,
– in Howiek about 1812,
– in Hollwege about 1817.
This conversion to „Hobbie“ also obviously coincided with the inauguration of a new Westersteder pastor in 1804, Ernst Christian Greverus (1774-1857).
Similar to Rastede, the name „Hobbie“ is repeatedly written as „Hobbje“ in the Westerstede church books from about 1775 to 1803, at the time of the pastor Johann Hartmann, who came from Holstein in 1759 and died in 1803, who was in office before Pastor Greverus. The name HOBBJE is still used today in a Hollwege family branch.
The spelling HOBBIE is today the most widespread of the German families of this name.