There was story that I got my middle name from an ancester who was an orphan. My father researched the story and was able to verify that part of the story is true. My great great grandfather suddenly appeared on a census of a family shortly after the Civil War. His listed age was too old to have been missed in the previous census, so he must have been an orphan and adopted by the family whose name I bear. The census indicates he was born in Germany (no city), but it was from his son that I got my middle name.