Most German surnames derive either from archaic professions (such as Schmidt, Müller, Weber, or Schäfer) or places. Read on and find out more about the German surnames. Then there was Friedrich Hoffmann, the physician to Occasionally, surname charts surface that we cannot contribute to any one individual. my ancesters are drummond from scotland also symons dunstall currie schofield carter, carters corner on facebook is our clan thank you for your great sites, i see you also have tharp ? Surname A-G. Surname H-K. Surname L-R. Surname S-Z. HORN English, German, Norwegian, Danish From the Germanic word horn meaning "horn" . To learn more, see Clifford Neal Smith’s article “Language and Onomastics” in Encyclopedia of German-American Genealogical Research, by Clifford Neal Smith and Anna Piszczan-Czaja Smith. Would love to know who came from Berman Germany in my family, Haag, Miller, schreiner and Bess Leon are names in my backgroun, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window). Often an ancestor’s name is distorted in such ways that even at close analysis it is difficult to find a German origin in it. The meaning of surnames and linking them to traceable lines in ancestral homelands remains a complex issue for the family historian. Even with less transparent names, a lingering knowledge about the meaning of the family name is handed down from generation to generation in most families. I have many ancestors in the 1800s with different English-sounding surnames in the DC area. The Davises were born, ca 1790s, in Charles Co., MD perhaps they were Germans who had migrated down from the Pennsylvania Dutch area? Adalbert, Low German) Does that seem right. Bezold (* Betzold, Betzoldt..), Petzoldt (* Petzold, Pezold) Beyer, Beier, Bayer, Baier Bezzenberger (cf. Charts by Village. It derives from the medieval personal name, of Biblical origin, from Aramaic תאומא t'om'a, a byname meaning 'twin'. It is therefore the policy that these charts be listed as commissioner unknown. Your email address will not be published. Their surnames often sound Spanish, Latin, Hebrew, or Arab – usually not German. Where variations of a spelling of a surname occurred, those monikers are listed as separate names. The table below includes the 1000 most common last names in America. Ben Affleck – actor and filmmaker. But the name Byers is what they translated it to. How can a researcher know that behind such names are people of German origin? in German studies. The meanings of German last names are those as defined initially when these names became surnames. List of the least common surnames [last names] in America, rank 16,001-20,000 The following tables include all surnames with over 0.001% frequency in the US population during the 1990 census. Do you know what an “umlaut” is? The acronyms are noted because you won't find the translations for these names in standard online translators or even most German dictionaries. His American name was Uno Byers. Find out how surnames are ranked in popularity, how many people in the United States of America bear a particular name, and how the statistics change between 1990 and 2000 US Censuses. The above-mentioned author has a rule of thumb: “When a German surname in America appears in the same form as it would in a modern-day telephone [directory] of a German city, one can usually be certain it pertains to [immigration to] America since the Civil War.” Names like Österreicher would be written Oesterreicher, and Dürr would be spelled Duerr. Ancestors from Southern Germany (Württemberg, Pfalz) came before immigrants from Saxony and Westphalia. With an estimated size of approximately 44.2 million in 2018, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the United States Census Bureau in its American Community Survey. They all trace their lineage back to one couple whose name was DAVIS. And have a great day. I found somewhere (not sure where) that it was Bauer. Some of the most common last names that are unforgettable are Graf, Einstein, Becker, Kahn, Klose, Ballack, Bach, and so on. This is a list of the most common surnames (also called last names or family names) in North America. A famous bearer of this surname was the German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). The following tables include all surnames with over 0.001% frequency in the US population during the 1990 census. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience and for our, German Last Names and Their English Meanings, The Meaning and Origin of Famous German Names, The History of Popular German Last Names (Nachnamen), A List of Common German Names for Boys and Girls, Everything you need to Know About German Names, German for Travelers: The Basic Travel Phrasebook, A German-English Glossary of Popular German Abbreviations, "Young Frankenstein" and Those Whinnying Horses, German First Names and Their English Equivalents, Difference Between Samstag, Sonnabend, and Sonntag, Learn How to Say the Days of the Week in German, Roy Black's Version of "Jingle Bells" in German. Thomas is a common surname of English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, French, German, Dutch, and Danish origin.. AHSGR is dedicated to making this research available to those who are researching these lines. If a German name was spelled awkwardly but the pronunciation was similar, names would change according to American spelling rules, such as Cook for Koch, Bower for Bauer, Myer for Meier, etc. The acronyms OHG and MHG stand for Old High German and Middle High German, respectively. This is an Ashkenazi Jewish last name of German or Old English origins with the meaning … October 8, 2014 Josiah Schmidt German Genealogy Tips. Melchior Hofmann was a visionary religious leader in northern Germany in the early 16th century (he was to have some 20th century descendants, Karl and Nicholas von Hoffman, in America). If you have any knowledge of Bauer being a surname or other leads I could follow I would be great full!!! The latter groups arrived in the 19th century, thus their plentiful names follow different patterns. There are some people in Germany whose last names are more popular than their first names. According to the above table, from the 2000 Census, 17.11% of Americans have a surname among the top 100. 24), and Schmid (No. Required fields are marked *. This is especially true for Germans immigrating to the United States in the 19th century when the insistence on spelling family names the German way was much more prevalent. German last names originate from places and professions in Germany and far beyond, as a list of 100 of the most common German surnames shows. On the other hand, 13.97% of Americans have a surname which occurs fewer than 100 times in the entire population. If a name was translatable, sooner or later family members would use such terms as Carpenter for Zimmermann, Taylor for Schneider, etc. Carpenter and Weaver in English or Zimmermann and Weber in German tell us that the ancestor with whom the name originated was a carpen- ter or a weaver respectively. Achen. What about the last name:Makin! For example, the surname Meyer means dairy farmer today, whereas, during the Middle Ages, Meyer designated people who were stewards of landholders. An “umlaut” a “double dot” mark over a vowel, to indicate a more fronted or rounded pronunciation. It is a toponymic name referring to people who originally came from the city of Aachen in … For instance, in eastern Pennsylvania, early-day officials who were Scotch-Irish translated German names ending in –bach to –baugh. This is followed in popularity by the name Schmidt (along with variants such as Schmitt or Schmitz, this comes from the blacksmith's trade), with Meier coming in third place. BRAND (2) German From Old High German brant "fire", originally a name for a person who lived near an area that had been cleared by fire. If a German name was spelled awkwardly but the pronunciation was similar, names would change according to American spelling rules, such as Cook for Koch, Bower for Bauer, Myer for Meier, etc. Your email address will not be published. A service provided by, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For information on the Soundex, see the Soundex article in the FamilySearch Research Wiki. German Surnames in America BECKER - BAKER ZIMMERMANN - CARPENTER SCHWARZ - BLACK KLEIN - LITTLE She has a teaching degree and an M.A. Just before the civil war is when my relative came from Bavaria Germany to New York not sure what the original name was. For instance, Schmidt, which is ranked No. But the first name that has been passed down was J Jonathan or Jon for short. German Americans (German: Deutschamerikaner, pronounced [ˈdɔʏ̯tʃʔameʁiˌkaːnɐ]) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. Some 50 million people there are primarily of German descent. 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