German Surnames - Meanings & Origins
1. South German: topographic name for someone who lived in a sandy place, from Middle High German griez ‘sand’.
2. Perhaps a reduced form of German Griese.
Griese: North German: nickname for a gray-haired man, from Middle Low German gris ‘gray’.
Where are Griesses located in the US?
Ehly Name Meaning and History
Swiss German: variant of Ehle
Pauley Name Meaning and History
1. German: variant or derivative of Paul. Compare Poley.
2. English: from a medieval pet form of Paul.
Poley Name Meaning and History
3. French: variant of Polet, Paulet, pet forms of Paul.
4. German: variant of Boley.
5. Jewish (from Belarus): variant of Polich.
Hoffmann Name Meaning and History
1.German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): status name for a steward on a farm or estate, from German hof(f) ‘manorfarm’, ‘courtyard’ + Mann ‘man’. Originally, this was a status name for a farmer who owned his own land as opposed to holding it by rent or feudal obligation, but the name soon came to denote the manager or steward of a manor farm, in which sense it is extremely frequent throughout central and eastern Europe; also among Jews, since many Jews held managerial positions on non-Jewish estates. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, not only in German-speaking lands.
2.East German: habitational name from a place so named near Frankfurt an der Oder.
Ridinger Name Meaning and History
1. habitational name for someone from any of several places in Bavaria named Riding or Rieding.
2. possibly an altered spelling of Reitinger, a topographic name from dialect Reit(e) ‘clearing’ (Old High German riuti), which also gave rise to several place names in Bavaria and Austria.
3. Redinger Name Meaning and History
4. German, Luxembourgeois, and Jewish (western Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from Redingen in Luxembourg.
Nuss Name Meaning and History
1. German: from Middle High German nuz ‘nut’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a gatherer and seller of nuts, or a (sometimes derogatory) nickname for a man thought to resemble a nut in some way (for example in having a round head and a brown complexion).
2. (Nüss): variant of Nies.
Wiest Name Meaning and History
1. variant of Wüst (see Wuest).
2. habitational name from a place named Wiest or Wieste, for example near Meppen.
Hofmann Name Meaning and History
German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Hoffmann. Hoffmann Name Meaning and History
German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): status name for a steward on a farm or estate, from German hof(f) ‘manorfarm’, ‘courtyard’ + Mann ‘man’. Originally, this was a status name for a farmer who owned his own land as opposed to holding it by rent or feudal obligation, but the name soon came to denote the manager or steward of a manor farm, in which sense it is extremely frequent throughout central and eastern Europe; also among Jews, since many Jews held managerial positions on non-Jewish estates. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, not only in German-speaking lands.
The surname in this spelling is also found in Denmark
Grosshans Name Meaning and History
German: compound name from Middle High German groz ‘large’ + Hans, a pet form of the personal name Johann(e)s (see John), hence a nickname used to denote a large man called Hans or to distinguish between two bearers of this personal name.
Ackermann Name Meaning and History
1. German: from Middle High German ackerman ‘plowman’, ‘peasant’. The German term did not have the same denotation of status in the feudal system as its English counterpart Ackerman.
2. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Acker.
Roemmich Name Meaning and History
1. German (Römmich): from a variant of the medieval personal name Remigius, which was particularly popular in the Palatinate
Ochsner Name Meaning and History
German (also Öchsner): occupational name for someone who looked after or worked with oxen, from an agent derivative of Middle High German ohse ‘ox’.
Huber Name Meaning and History
1. German (also Hüber, Hueber): status name based on Middle High German huobe, a measure of land, varying in size at different periods and in different places, but always of considerable extent, appreciably larger than the holding of the average peasant. The surname usually denotes a holder or owner of this amount of land, who would have been a prosperous small farmer and probably one of the leading men of his village. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, not only in German-speaking lands.
2. Slovenian (eastern Slovenia): status name of Franconian origin (see 1) for a peasant who had his own landed property, dialectally called huba.
4. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from a southern Yiddish pronunciation of Yiddish hober ‘oats’ (see Haber).
Wenzlaff Name Meaning and History
1; Eastern German: from the Slavic personal name Vaclav (see Wenzel).
Bender Name Meaning and History
1. German: occupational name for a cooper, a short form of Fassbender.
2. English: from an agent derivative of Old English bendan ‘to bend (the bow)’, hence probably a metonymic occupational name for an archer. Compare Benbow.
3. Hungarian: from bender ‘curl’, hence a nickname for someone with curly hair.
Reichert Name Meaning and History
Rauscher Name Meaning and History
1. habitational name for someone from Rausch in Bavaria or from Rauscha in Silesia or from Rausche in the former East Prussia.
2. variant of Rausch with the addition of the agent suffix -er.
Kauk Name Meaning and History
1. Possibly an altered spelling North German Kauke, from Middle Low German koke ‘cake’ (dialect Kauke), hence a metonymic occupational name for a baker or confectioner or a nickname for a cake lover.
2. Perhaps an altered spelling of Dutch Kaak or North German Kaack (see Kaake).
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Eberhardt Name Meaning and History
German: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements eber ‘wild boar’ (Old High German, Old Saxon ebur) + hard ‘brave’, ‘hardy’, ‘strong’.
What Does Your German Last Name Mean? Kimberly Powell explains the origin of German surnames.
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