Consensus (and unanimity) is a seriously tricky thing to establish.
Yes, "it's complicated" may be the best answer to the questionas that are asked here.
Some food for thought below.
On H&M Online
here, we can read :
For choice of P.L. Statius Muller rather than P.L.S. Müller see fn. p. 170 in Holthuis & Junge (1958) [Holthuis, 1958 #10215].
This is a ref to :
Holthuis LB, Junge GCA. 1958. The specific names in Tunstall's Ornithologia Britannica 1771. (Dowloadable
here.)
...where we are told :
The name of this author often is cited as MÜLLER; STATIUS being considered a Christian name. Actually, however, his family name is STATIUS MULLER, which still is a well known name in the Netherlands. PHILIPPUS LUDOVICUS STATIUS MULLER was born in 1725, probably in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, where his father CHRISTOPH ANTON (1694-1749) was a Lutheran preacher. P. L. STATIUS MULLER also became a Lutheran minister, first in Amersfoort (1745-1749), later in Leeuwarden (till 1756). In 1756 he left the Netherlands to become a professor in Erlangen, Germany, where he staued till his death, 5 January, 1776.
(Note that no actual source is provided, and what is given as his likely birthplace does not agree with current belief. Unfortunately, the fact that "Statius Muller" exists as a compound family name in the Netherlands is no proof that this was the case for him.)
The idea of a compound family name was not new in 1958, however. A short biography of PLSM was published in 1776, shortly after his death, in the journal
Beschäftigungen der Berlinischen Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde, and can be read at :
Beschäftigungen. Therein, we are told :
Herr Philipp Ludewig Statius Müller stammt aus einer alten adelichen Familie derer van Statius her, welche vormals in Ostfriesland anseheliche Güter besas und wichtige Ehrenamter bekleidete. Als vor etwa 2 bis 300 Jahren eine plötzliche Ueberschwemmung einen großen Theil dieser Provinz zu Grunde richtete, ward nicht nur das Schloß und gesammte Vermögen dieser Familie ein Raub der Wellen, sondern alle damals lebende Personen derselsben fanden, bis auf ein einziges Kind in dieser Schrekkenvollen Ergießung ihren Untergang. Ein benachbarter Müller sah dieses von den Fluten ergriffene Kind in der Wiege auf dem Waßer umher treiben, setzte Demselben in einem Kahne nach, und war so gluklich, es zu retten. Da er Besitzer eines ansehnlichen Vermögens, dabey aber ohne nahe Erben war, so beschloß er selbiges an Kindes statt anzunehmen und ihm eine seinen Umständen gemäße Erziehung zu geben. Dieser Statius, welcher aus Dankbarkeit gegen seinen Wohlthäter, nächst seinem Geschlechtsnamen, auch Den Namen Müller annahm, ist der Stammvater der anjetzt unter diesem Namen bekannten Familie. Die Zeit, in welcher er eigentlich lebte, ist aus Mangel zuverläßiger Nachrichten ungewiß, und das Geschlechtsregister seiner Deszendenten, in Ruksicht auf Die ältern Zeiten, vielen Zweifeln unterworfen. So viel weis man, daß um das Jahr 1450 ein gewißer Andreas Statius Müller in Ostfriesland eine ansehnliche Ehrenstelle bekleidete, und daß ein anderer von Dieser Familie im Jahre 1500 sich durch wichtige Dienste im Zivilstande bekannt machte.
Mr. Philipp Ludewig [sic] Statius Müller comes from an old noble family, the van Statius family, which formerly owned considerable estates in East Frisia and held important honorary offices. When a sudden flood destroyed a large part of this province between 2 and 300 years ago, not only was the castle and the entire fortune of this family swept away by the waves, but all of the family's living members, with the exception of a single child, perished in this terrible flood. A neighboring miller [or Müller ?] saw this child, which had been caught in the flood, floating in his cradle on the water, went after it in a boat and was lucky enough to save him. Since he was the owner of a considerable fortune but had no immediate heirs, he decided to adopt him as his own and give him an education appropriate to the circumstances. This Statius, who out of gratitude to his benefactor, took the name Müller in addition to his family name, is the progenitor of the family now known by this name. The time in which he actually lived is uncertain due to a lack of reliable information, and the genealogy of his descendants is subject to many doubts in view of the older times. This much is known, that around the year 1450 a certain Andreas Statius Müller held a considerable honorary position in East Frisia, and that another member of this family made himself known in the year 1500 through important services in civil society.
(Again, no actual source is given; and this sounds like a story that could easily have been embellished or corrupted over time, to an extent that cannot be determined.)
The paper then goes on with:
Unser Statius Müller wurde zu Esens in Ostfriesland im Jahr 1725 den 25. Aprill gebohren. Sein Hr. Vater Christoph Anton Statius Müller war Prediger dafelbst und ward da unser Statius noch ein Kind war als Evangelisch Lutherischer Prediger nach Leuwarden berufen, [etc.]
Our Statius Müller was born in Esens in East Frisia in 1725, on 25 April. His father, Christoph Anton Statius Müller, was a preacher there and was called to Leeuwarden as an Evangelical Lutheran preacher when our Statius was still a child.
I failed to locate a record of his birth. Nowadays, Ostfriesland is of course Germany.
Wikipedia suggests that it was not Dutch when PLSM was born, although it had evolved in being
de facto "a satellite of the Netherlands, Dutch garrisons being stationed in different cities permanently". Calling someone "German" because he was born there in 1725 is probably questionable, but calling that person "Dutch" may be worse. His current Dutch and German Wikipedia pages agree in calling him a German (
contra AP Peterson on
Zoonomen, thus).
PLSM used various versions of his name in publications, i.a.
His signature is interesting, in that he wrote Müller with an Umlaut (Umlaute do not exist in Dutch; diaereses do exist and look similar, but never occur on a vowel that is between two consonants), and used a script that is typically German -- very unlike any Dutch handwriting I have seen so far.
In Dutch paperwork, he was apparently called "Philippus Ludovicus Statius Muller". Here is the birth record of a son (31 Mar 1757; apparently he had started working in Erlangen but his wife was still in the Netherlands) :
Below is a record of his father, here called "Christoph Anthon Muller" (no "Statius"), starting to work in Leeuwarden and registering himself and his wife as members of the local community (Jun 1826 -- PLSM must have been just over 1 year old):
(In other records cited in FamilySearch but for which I found no scans, he is called either "Christoph Anthon Muller" as here, or "Christoph Anton Muller".)
Most of PLSM's brothers and sisters (12 in total) are cited in FamilySearch without a "Statius" in their name too. One of them, however, was "August Leberegt Statius Muller" (b. 1743); he himself had a son who, although cited in FamilySearch as "Philip Lodewijk Muller" (1776-1813), was called "Philip Lodewyk Statius Muller" in his death record :
...Thus it seems that, in some cases at least, the "Statius" was allowed to come and go.
