German Surnames - Behind the Name

Achterberg Dutch, German
From the name of various places in the Netherlands and Germany, for example the village of achterberg in Utrecht. The place names are derived from Low German achter "behind" and berg "mountain, hill".

Acker German, English
Denoted a person who lived near a field, derived from Middle English aker or Middle High German acker meaning "field".

Ackermann German
Denoted a person who lived near a field, from Middle High German acker "field" and man "man".

Adenauer German
Denoted a person from the town of Adenau in Germany. The name of the town is of uncertain etymology.

Althaus German
Name for a person dwelled in or by an old house, from German alt "old" and haus "house".

Armbruster German
Means "crossbow maker" from German armbrust "crossbow". The word armbrust was originally from Latin arcuballista meaning "bow ballista", but was modified under the influence of German arm "arm" and brust "breast".

Aue German
From German meaning "meadow by a river, wetland". There are many places with this name in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Auer German
From German Aue, Old High German ouwa, meaning "meadow by a river, wetland".

Bach 1 German
Topographic name for someone who lived by a stream, from Middle High German bach meaning "stream". This name was borne by members of the Bach musical family, notably the composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

Bachmann German
Denoted a person who lived near a stream, from Middle High German bach "stream" and man "man".

Bachmeier German
Originally referred to a farmer whose farm was beside a stream, from Middle High German bach "stream" and meier "steward, tenant farmer".

Bader German
Derived from Old High German bad "bath", most likely referring to a bath attendant.

Bähr German
From Middle High German bër "bear" or ber "boar". This was originally a nickname for a strong or brave person.

Bauer German
From Old High German bur meaning "peasant, farmer".

Baum German, Jewish
Means "tree" in German. A famous bearer was the American author L. Frank Baum (1856-1919).

Baumann German, Jewish
From Middle High German bumann meaning "farmer, builder".

Baumbach German
From a place name meaning "tree stream" in German.

Baumgartner German
Occupational name for a person who worked or lived at an orchard, from German Baumgarten "orchard" (derived from Baum "tree" and Garten "garden").

Baumhauer German
Occupational name meaning "woodcutter", derived from German Baum "tree" and hauen "to chop".

Bayer German
Originally denoted a person from Bavaria, from its German name Bayern.

Becker German
Derived from Middle High German becker meaning "baker".

Beiler German
Derived from Middle High German beile meaning "measuring stick".

Beltz German
Occupational name for a tanner of hides, derived from Middle High German belz meaning "fur".

Bergmann German
From Old High German berg meaning "mountain" and man meaning "man", originally denoting someone who lived on a mountain.

Best 2 German
Derived from the name of the river Beste, meaning unknown.

Beutel German
From Middle High German biutel meaning "bag", originally belonging to a person who made or sold bags.

Beyersdorf German
Means "farmers village", from German Bauer meaning "farmer" and Dorf meaning "village".

Bieber German, Jewish
From Middle High German biber meaning "beaver", possibly a nickname for a hard worker.

Biermann German
Derived from German bier "beer" and mann "man". The name may have referred to a brewer or a tavern owner.

Blau German
Means "blue" in German, most likely used to refer to a person who wore blue clothes.

Blecher German
Occupational name for someone who worked with tin or sheet metal, from German blech "tin".

Bleier German
Occupational name for a worker of lead, derived from German blei "lead".

Böhler German
Derived from the name of several German towns called Boll or Böhl, meaning "hill".

Böhm German
Originally indicated a person from the region of Bohemia (Böhmen in German).

Bohn German
Occupational name for a bean grower, derived from Middle High German bone "bean".

Böttcher German
Occupational name meaning "cooper, barrel maker" in German.

Braband German
Derived from the name of the region of Brabant in the Netherlands and Belgium. It possibly means "ploughed region" or "marshy region" in Old High German.

Brahms German
Derived from the given name Abraham. A famous bearer of this surname was the German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897).

Brand 2 German, Dutch
From Old High German brant or Old Dutch brand meaning "fire", originally a name for a person who lived near an area that had been cleared by fire.

Breiner German, Swedish
Occupational name derived from Middle High German brie "porridge".

Breisacher German
Originally denoted one who came from the town of Breisach, in Germany. The town's name is possibly from a Celtic word meaning "breakwater".

Breitbarth German
From Old High German breit "broad" and bart "beard", originally a nickname for someone with a full beard.

Bretz German
Indicated a person from the town of Breetz in Brandenburg, Germany. The meaning of the town's name is unknown.

Brinkerhoff German
From a German place name meaning "farm near a slope".

Brodbeck German
Means "bread baker" from Middle High German brot "bread" and becke "baker".

Buchholz German
From Middle High German buoche "beech" and holz "wood".

Burgstaller German
From German Burg "fortress, castle" and Stelle "place, position". This was a name given to a person dwelling at or near such a site.

Busch German
Means "bush" in German, a name for someone who lived close to a thicket.

Dreher German
Means "turner" from Middle High German drehen "to turn". A turner was a person who used a lathe to create small objects from wood or bone.

Dreschner German
Derived from Middle High German dreschen "to thresh". A thresher was a person who separated the grains from a cereal plant by beating it.

Dresdner German
Originally indicated a person who came from the city of Dresden in German.

Dressler German
Means "turner" from Middle High German dreseler, an agent derivative of drehen "to turn". A turner was a person who used a lathe to create small objects from wood or bone.

Dunst German
Derived from Middle High German dunst "haze".

Ebner 1 German
Originally indicated a dweller on a flat piece of land, derived from Middle High German ebene "plateau".

Ebner 2 German
Means "judge, arbiter" from Middle High German ebenære.

Egger German
South German occupational name meaning "plowman" or "farmer", derived from German eggen "to harrow, to plow".

Eichel German
Means "acorn" in German, indicating a person who lived near an oak tree.

Engel German
Derived from German given names beginning with Engel, such as Engelbert.

Enns German
Derived from a short form of the German given name Anselm.

Esser German
Means "cartwright", related to Old High German ahsa "axle".

Falkenrath German
Derived from Middle High German falke "falcon" and rat "counsel, advice".

Färber German
Occupational name meaning "dyer", derived from German Farbe "colour".

Fashingbauer German
From Fasching, a German carnival (Fastnacht meaning "eve of the beginning of the fast", or the time before Lent) celebrated in Austria and Bavaria, and bauer meaning "farmer".

Feld German, Jewish
Means "field" in German. The name was originally given to someone who lived on land cleared of forest.

Fischer German
Occupational name meaning "fisherman" in German.

Fleischer German
Occupational name meaning "butcher" in German.

Forney German
Name for someone who lived near ferns, from Old High German farn "fern".

Forst German
Derived from Old High German forst "forest". Probably unrelated to the Old French word forest, which was derived from Latin, Old High German forst was derived from foraha meaning "fir tree".

Frank 3 German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian
Name for a person from Franconia in Germany, so called because it was settled by the Frankish people. A notable bearer was the German-Jewish diarist Anne Frank (1929-1945), a victim of the Holocaust.

Frankenstein German, Literature
From any of the various minor places by this name in Germany, meaning "stone of the Franks" in German. It was used by the author Mary Shelley in her novel Frankenstein (1818) for the character of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a monster and brings it to life. The monster, nameless in the novel, is sometimes informally or erroneously called Frankenstein in modern speech.

Frei German
Means "free" in German, probably referring to someone outside the feudal system.

Freud German, Jewish
Means "joy" in German, a nickname for a cheerful person. A famous bearer was the psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).

Freudenberger German, Jewish
Ornamental name from old German freud meaning "joy" and berg meaning "mountain".

Freund German
From Middle High German vriunt, modern German Freund meaning "friend".

Fries German
Denoted someone from Frisia, an area along the coastal region of the North Sea stretching from Netherlands to Germany.

Fromm German
From a nickname derived from Middle High German vrume meaning "noble, honourable".

Frost English, German
From Old English and Old High German meaning "frost", a nickname for a person who had a cold personality or a white beard.

Fuchs German
From Old High German fuhs meaning "fox". It was originally a nickname for a person with red hair.

Fuhrmann German
Derived from Middle High German vuorman meaning "cartwright".

Fürst German
From a nickname meaning "(sovereign) prince" in German. The word fürst itself is derived from Old High German furisto "first".

Gabler German
Occupational name for someone who made or sold forks, from Old High German gabala "fork".

Gass German
Name for someone who lived on a street in a city, from German gasse.

Gehring German
Derived from a short form of Old German names starting with the element ger "spear".

Geier German
Means "vulture" in German, a nickname for a greedy person.

Geiger German
Means "fiddle player" in German, derived from Old High German giga "fiddle".

Geissler 2 German
Occupational name for a goat herder, from southern German Geiss meaning "goat" and the suffix ler signifying an occupation.

Gerber German
Means "tanner, leather dresser" in German, derived from Old High German garawen meaning "to prepare".

Gerst German
Occupational name for a barley farmer, derived from Old High German gersta "barley".

Giese German, Danish
Derived from a short form of the given name Giselbert or other Old German names beginning with the element gisal meaning "pledge, hostage".

Glass English, German
From Old English glæs or Old High German glas meaning "glass". This was an occupational name for a glass blower or glazier.

Glöckner German
Derived from Middle High German glocke "bell". It may have referred to a person who worked at or lived close to a bell tower.

Göbel German
Derived from the given name Göbel, a diminutive of the Old German name Godabert.

Gold English, German, Jewish
From Old English and Old High German gold meaning "gold", an occupational name for someone who worked with gold or a nickname for someone with yellow hair. As a Jewish name it is ornamental.

Graf German
From the German noble title Graf meaning "count", ultimately from Greek γραφεύς (grapheus) meaning "scribe".

Graner German
Originally denoted a person from Gran, the German name for Esztergom, a city in northern Hungary.

Grimm German
From a nickname for a stern person, derived from Old High German grim "stern, severe, angry". Famous bearers include Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859), known for compiling German folktales.

Groß German
From Old High German groz meaning "tall, big".

Gruber Upper German
From German Grube meaning "pit", indicating a person who lived or worked in a pit or depression. This is the most common surname in Austria.

Grünberg German, Jewish
From German grün meaning "green" and Berg meaning "mountain". This name indicated a person who lived on or near a forest-covered mountain.

Grünewald German
Means "green forest" from German grün "green" and Wald "forest".

Gump German (Rare), Popular Culture
Possibly from a nickname derived from Middle High German gumpen meaning "to hop, to jump". This surname was used by author Winston Groom for the hero of his novel Forrest Gump (1986), better known from the 1994 movie adaptation.

Gutenberg German, Jewish
Variant of Guttenberg. A notable bearer was the inventor of the printing press Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468), whose family hailed from an estate by this name.

Gutermuth German
Derived from Middle High German guot meaning "good" and muot meaning "mind, spirit". It was a nickname for an optimistic person.

Guttenberg German, Jewish
From the name of various places, derived from Middle High German guot meaning "good" and berg meaning "mountain". As a Jewish surname it is ornamental.

Haber German, Jewish
Occupational name for one who grew or sold oats, derived from Old High German habaro "oat". As a Jewish surname it is ornamental.

Haberkorn German
Occupational name for a dealer in oats, derived from Old High German habaro "oat" and korn "kernel, grain".

Hafner German
Occupational name for a potter, derived from Old High German hafan "pot, vessel".

Hahn German
From a nickname for a proud or pugnacious person, from Old High German hano meaning "rooster, cock".

Hase German
From Middle High German and Middle Low German hase meaning "hare, rabbit". This was a nickname for a person who was quick or timid.

Hasenkamp German
From a northern German place name meaning "rabbit field", from Old Saxon haso "hare" and kamp "field" (from Latin campus).

Hauer German
Derived from Middle High German houwen "to chop", referring to a butcher or woodchopper.

Haumann German
Derived from Middle High German houwen "to chop" and man "man", referring to a butcher or woodchopper.

Häusler German
Name for someone who lived in a house with no land, derived rom Old High German word hus meaning "house".

Heppenheimer German
From the name of the city of Heppenheim in Hesse, Germany.

Herschel German, Jewish
Diminutive form of Hirsch 1 or Hirsch 2. A famous bearer was the British-German astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822), as well as his sister Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) and son John Herschel (1792-1871), also noted scientists.

Hertz German
Derived from Middle High German herze meaning "heart", a nickname for a big-hearted person.

Herzog German
From a German title meaning "duke", a nickname for a person who either acted like a duke or worked in a duke's household.

Hiedler German
From southern German Hiedl meaning "underground stream".

Hirsch 1 German
Means "deer, hart" in German. This was a nickname for a person who resembled a deer in some way, or who raised or hunted deer.

Hitler German
Variant of Hiedler. This was spelling used by Alois Hitler, the father of German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), when he adopted his stepfather Johann Georg Hiedler's surname.

Hofer German
Occupational name for a farmer, from German Hof "farm", from Old High German hof "yard, court".