Surnames
Surnames (family name; Nachname, Familienname) were gradually introduced in German-speaking Europe during the Late Middle Ages. Many of such surnames are derived from nicknames. They are generally classified into four groups by derivation: given names, occupational designations, bodily attributes, and toponyms (including references to named buildings). Also, many family names display characteristic features of the dialect of the region they originated in.
- Given names often turned into family names when people were identified by their father's name. For example, the first name Ahrend developed into the family name Ahrends by adding a genitive s-ending, as in Ahrend's son.
Examples: Ahrends/Ahrens , Burkhard , Wulff , Friedrich , Benz , Fritz . With many of the early city records written in Latin, occasionally the Latin genitive singular -i was used such as in Jakobi or Alberti or (written as -'y') in Mendelssohn Bartholdy. - Occupational names are the most common form of family names; anybody who had an unusual job would have been bound to be identified by it. Examples: Gaschler (glass), Schmidt (smith), Müller (miller), Meier (farm administrator; akin to tenant, steward, sometimes also a bailiff), Schulze (constable), Fischer (fisherman), Schneider (tailor), Maurer (mason), Bauer (farmer), Zimmermann (carpenter), Metzger or Fleischer (butcher), Töpfer, Toepfer (potter) or Klingemann (weapons smith). Also, names referring to nobility such as Kaiser (emperor), König (king), Graf (count) are common, with the name bearers probably only a minor functionary of a monarch.
- Bodily attribute names are family names such as Krause (curly), Schwarzkopf (black head), Klein (small), Groß (big).
- Geographical names (toponyms) are derived from the name of a city or village, or the location of someone's home. They often have the '-er' postfix that signifies origin (as in English New Yorker). Examples: Kissinger (from Kissingen), Schwarzenegger (from Schwarzenegg [8] or Schwarzeneck), Bayer (from Bavaria, German Bayern). Böhm indicates that a family originated in Bohemia. A special case of geographical names were those derived from a building or a natural landmark, e.g. a Busch (bush) or Springborn (spring/well). Before the advent of street names and numbers, even for long times afterwards, many important buildings like inns, mills and farmsteads were given house names or Hofnamen "estate names", e.g. Rothschild "red sign/escutcheon", Lachs "(sign of the) salmon", Bär "bear", Engels from Engel "angel", etc. A house or estate name could be combined with a profession, e.g. Rosenbauer (rose-farmer, from a farmstead called 'the rose'); Kindlmüller (child's miller, from a mill named 'the Christmas child', 'the prodigal child' or 'the king's child').
The preposition von ("of") was used to distinguish nobility; for example, if someone was baron of the village of Veltheim, his family name would be von Veltheim. In modern times, people who were elevated to nobility often had a 'von' added to their name. For example, Johann Wolfgang Goethe had his name changed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This practice ended with the abolition of the monarchy in Germany and Austria in 1919. Sometimes von is also used in geographical names that are not noble, as in von Däniken.
With family names originating locally, many names display particular characteristics of the local dialects, such as the south German, Austrian and Swiss diminutive endings -l-el, -erl, -le or -li as in Kleibl, Schäuble or Nägeli (from 'Nagel', nail). The same is true for regional variants in the naming of professions. While a barrel-maker from Hamburg may have been called "Böttcher", a Bavarian could easily have been called "Schäffler".
The surnames of the German Jews are a special case, as they were introduced later, in the late 18th to early 19th century, per fiat. [9] The Prussian authorities imposed made-up and sometimes derogatory names. For instance, the name "Waldlieferant" (lit.: forest supplier) was "created" to ridicule a Jewish timber trader.[ citation needed ] Even way more offensive expressions ("Afterduft"; lit.: anus odor) were in use.[ citation needed ] This is by no means the rule, though; on the contrary, those surnames most quickly recognized as probably Jewish in origin are distinctly poetical ones, probably as they were made-up choices by the people themselves (e.g. Rosenzweig ).
Immigration, often sponsored by local authorities, also brought foreign family names into the German-speaking regions. Depending on regional history, geography and economics, many family names have French, Dutch, Italian, Hungarian or Slavic (e.g. Polish) origins. Sometimes they survived in their original form; in other cases, the spelling would be adapted to German (the Slavic ending ic becoming the German -itz or -itsch or Baltic "-kis" becoming "-ke"). Over time, the spelling often changed to reflect native German pronunciation (Sloothaak for the Dutch Sloothaag); but some names, such as those of French Huguenots settling in Prussia, retained their spelling but with the pronunciation that would come naturally to a German reading the name: Marquard , pronounced French pronunciation: [maʁkaʁ] in French, ended up being pronounced German pronunciation: [ˈmaʁkvaʁt] much like the German Markwart from which it was originally derived.
Marriage
Traditionally, the wife adopts her husband's Nachname on marriage and drops her own. However, due to the legal equality of sexes, the opposite is possible as well, though rare.
A few examples of the practice under German law, if "Herr (Mr) Schmidt" and "Frau (Miss) Meyer" marry: [10]
- They can keep their former Nachnamen: Herr Schmidt and Frau (Mrs) Meyer. In the 1990s, the law was thus changed. They can later change to variant 2, though the inverse is not possible.
- They can declare one name as a "marriage name" (Ehename). In doing so, they can either both adopt the husband's name, or both adopt the wife's name as an Ehename: Herr Meyer and Frau Meyer; Herr Schmidt and Frau Schmidt.
- One partner, but not both, may combine both names by a hyphen. Thus, one of them then bears a double name (Doppelname). (Herr Schmidt and Frau Meyer-Schmidt (or Frau Schmidt-Meyer); the children have to be called Schmidt.) Both partners cannot have Doppelnamen; thus, there would be no Herr Meyer-Schmidt and Frau Meyer-Schmidt.
All children of a family have to receive the same non-hyphenated Nachname at birth, which may be either the mother's or the father's Nachname (traditionally it was the father's). If the parents adopted an Ehename this is the Nachname of the child. It is strictly forbidden to give children Doppelnamen if it is not the Ehename. [11] The latter case can arise with traditional aristocratic Doppelnamen (e.g. Faber-Castell).
In Austria (§ 93 ABGB), a couple can choose either of their surnames as married name. In the default case, each partner retains their unmarried name. The partner who is changing surnames has the possibility to use their unmarried name alongside the married name with hyphenation.
In Switzerland (Art. 160 ZGB), the couple can opt to both retain their unmarried name, or the couple can choose to use either surname as their married name. If both retain their name, they need to declare which will be the surname of any future children.
Nobility
Titles of former aristocrats (like Graf for "Count") have become parts of the Nachname in Germany, giving longer names of several words, usually including the nobiliary particle von (meaning "of") or zu (meaning "to", sometimes "at"), often von und zu are also found together (meaning "of and to/at"). [12] [13] The legal rules for these names are the same as those for other Nachnamen, which gives rise to a number of cases where people legally bear such names but are not recognized by the associations of formerly noble families in Germany, which continue to apply the old rules of the German Empire in their publications. Most of these cases come about when a woman of noble descent marries a man with no title, and the two adopt the woman's name as their common Nachname, which was impossible under imperial law.
In Austria, titles of nobility including certain other orders and honours held by Austrian citizens have since 3 April 1919 been abolished, including nobiliary particles such as von, the use of such titles by Austrian citizens is an offence punishable with a financial enforcement penalty. [14] [ better source needed ] For example, Otto von Habsburg, Austria-Hungary's last crown prince, was referred to as Otto Habsburg(-Lothringen) in Austria. In Switzerland, where titles of nobility have been rare for several centuries, they can be used in private conversation, but are not officially recognised.[ citation needed ]
Common surnames
Germany
The most common surnames in Germany, counting different spellings together, are roughly: [15]
- 0,87 %: Schmidt, Schmitt, Schmitz, Schmied ("smith, blacksmith")
- 0,83 %: Müller, Möller ("miller")
- 0,73 %: Meyer, Meier, Meir, Meyr, Mayer, Maier, Mair, or Mayr (often the senior farmer in a given settlement [running a "full range" farmstead in terms of area, workforce and harvest, compared to various partitions of lesser size], often as the leaseholder of a landlord like an abbey, a worldly ruler, etc.; "tenant, steward, sometimes also a bailiff, but not a mayor" [16] [ unreliable source ])
- 0,43 %: Schulz, Schulze, Schultze, Schulte, Schultheiß, Scholz ("constable")
- 0,34 %: Schneider ("tailor")
- 0,30 %: Hoffmann, Hofmann ("steward; tenant/leaseholder; courtier"; with the same meaning, but here not counted, are Hofer, Hoffer, Hoffner, Höfer, Höffer, Höffner, etc)
- 0,28 %: Becker, Beck, Beckmann, Bäcker ("baker")
- 0,27 %: Fischer ("fisherman")
- 0,26 %: Weber ("weaver")
- 0,23 %: Wagner ("carter, cartwright")
- 0,21 %: Bauer, Baur ("farmer")
- 0,1925 %: Lange, Lang ("long, tall")
- 0,1918 %: Wolf, Wolff ("wolf")
If different spellings are counted separately, the order is different: [15]
These ten names are all occupational names, designating common occupations around 1600 when surnames became heritable. That's why these names arose independently across Germany.
Austria
Gender-specific surname variants
Traditionally, there was a differentiation of surnames of women from those of their male siblings, which was widespread in Germany until the 18th century. Thus, in old records, especially church registers on rites de passage, such as baptisms, deaths and marriages etc., women may appear bearing regionally typical female surname variants (like, in South Germany: Peter Huber, but Anna Huberin). With the establishment of general official registration of legal names, this practice was abolished in the 18th and the 19th centuries, depending on the legislation of the respective states.
Also, the spelling of given and surnames, varying previously from author to author, or even entry to entry, was then mostly fixed according to the official recorded form. Former noble titles appearing in male and female variants were transformed by the Weimar Constitution, article 109, into parts of the surnames in Germany, but a new tradition of gender-specific variants, for official registration, was established for these surnames. This practice was confirmed in a judgement by the Reichsgericht on 10 March 1926. [18] [19] [20]
Colloquially, surname variants for women continue to appear in some German dialects. In Bavarian dialect surnames of women sometimes are formed by adding the ending "-in", used in standard High German to indicate noun variants for women or items of grammatical feminine gender, such as Näherin (seamstress), with Näher (seamster) being the male form. Thus a Frau (Mrs.) Gruber may be referred to as "Gruberin". In West Low German parlance the ending "…sch(e)" is sometimes added to surnames of women, related to the standard High German adjective ending "…isch" (cognitive to English "…ish"), suffixed to nouns or adjectives indicating belonging / pertaining to, being of the kind described by the suffixed word: for example, de Smidtsche, is Ms Schmidt (Smith), but literally something like the Smithian (the woman pertaining to a man/family named Schmidt). [21]
Another form, indicating a female bearer of a surname, was the addition of a genitive "s" (like the Saxon genitive), the daughter or wife of Mr. Bäcker (literally Baker) would appear as Ms Bäckers (in German without an apostrophe), as being Bäcker's daughter or wife.
