Data updated to 12 February 2021. [1] [2] [3]
Although Müller is the most common name in German-speaking countries, in some areas other surnames are more frequent than Müller. The common names Schmidt and Schmitz lead in the central German-speaking and eastern Low German-speaking areas. Meyer is particularly common in the Low German-speaking regions, especially in Lower Saxony (where it is more common than Müller). Bauer leads in eastern Upper German-speaking Bavaria. Rarer names tend to accumulate in the north and south. Huber is common in southern Bavaria and is, with the exception of Munich, the most frequent name in that area. Patronymic surnames such as Jansen/Janssen, Hansen, and Petersen are the most common names in the far north (Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein).
Due to the historical settlement of Slavs, Slavic names are most common in Saxony, Brandenburg, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (especially in Lusatia, where Sorbs continue to reside today). About 13% of the German population today has names of Slavic origin. Many Austrians also have surnames of Slavic origin.
Polish names in Germany abound as a result of over 100,000 people (including 130,000 "Ruhrpolen") immigrating westward from the Polish-speaking areas of the German Empire. Many Polish-named Germans reside in the Ruhr region of North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin, though they are mostly "Germanized" by form (e.g. Orlowski, Schimanski, Rudzinski, Kowalski, Schymanietz, Matuszek to Matussek or Mattner, Koslowski, etc.).
The large number of Turkish immigrants to Germany accounts for the frequency of Turkish surnames.
Because many Vietnamese sought asylum in West Germany or guest work in East Germany during and after the Vietnam War, and because approximately 40% of the Vietnamese population carry one particular name, the surname Nguyen is notably common in Germany.
Surname conventions and laws vary around the world. This article gives an overview of surnames around the world.
Manorialism, also known as seigneurialism, the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, sometimes fortified manor house in which the lord of the manor and his dependants lived and administered a rural estate, and a population of labourers or serfs who worked the surrounding land to support themselves and the lord. These labourers fulfilled their obligations with labour time or in-kind produce at first, and later by cash payment as commercial activity increased. Manorialism was part of the feudal system.
The Obotrites or Obodrites, also spelled Abodrites, were a confederation of medieval West Slavic tribes within the territory of modern Mecklenburg and Holstein in northern Germany. For decades, they were allies of Charlemagne in his wars against the Germanic Saxons and the Slavic Veleti. The Obotrites under Prince Thrasco defeated the Saxons in the Battle of Bornhöved (798). The still-Pagan Saxons were dispersed by the emperor, and the part of their former land in Holstein north of Elbe was awarded to the Obotrites in 804, as a reward for their victory. This however was soon reverted through an invasion of the Danes. The Obotrite regnal style was abolished in 1167, when Pribislav was restored to power by Duke Henry the Lion, as Prince of Mecklenburg, thereby founding the Germanized House of Mecklenburg.
A surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person.
Personal names in German-speaking Europe consist of one or several given names and a surname. The Vorname is usually gender-specific. A name is usually cited in the "Western order" of "given name, surname". The most common exceptions are alphabetized list of surnames, e.g. "Bach, Johann Sebastian", as well as some official documents and spoken southern German dialects. In most of this, the German conventions parallel the naming conventions in most of Western and Central Europe, including English, Dutch, Italian, and French. There are some vestiges of a patronymic system as they survive in parts of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, but these do not form part of the official name.
Spanish names are the traditional way of identifying, and the official way of registering, a person in Spain. They are composed of a given name and two surnames. Traditionally, the first surname is the father's first surname, and the second is the mother's first surname. Since 1999, the order of the surnames in a family in Spain is decided when registering the first child, but the traditional order is nearly universally chosen.
A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world. Milling existed in hunter-gatherer communities, and later millers were important to the development of agriculture.
Czech names are composed of a given name and a family name (surname). Czechs typically get one given name – additional names may be chosen by themselves upon baptism but they generally use one. With marriage, the bride typically adopts the bridegroom's surname.
Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements, by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from æþele, meaning "noble", and ræd, meaning "counsel".
Jewish surnames are family names used by Jews and those of Jewish origin. Jewish surnames are thought to be of comparatively recent origin; the first known Jewish family names date to the Middle Ages, in the 10th and 11th centuries.
This article features the naming culture of personal names of ethnic Serbs and the Serbian language. Serbian names are rendered in the "Western name order" with the surname placed after the given name. "Eastern name order" may be used when multiple names appear in a sorted list, particularly in official notes and legal documents when the last name is capitalized.
Basque surnames are surnames with Basque-language origins or a long, identifiable tradition in the Basque Country. They can be divided into two main types, patronymic and non-patronymic.
Onomastics is an important source of information on the early Celts, as Greco-Roman historiography recorded Celtic names before substantial written information becomes available in any Celtic language.
East Elbia was an informal denotation for those parts of the German Reich until World War II that lay east of the river Elbe.
By the 18th century almost all Ukrainians had family names. Most Ukrainian surnames are formed by adding possessive and other suffixes to given names, place names, professions and other words.
Kutsche, with numerous other spellings, is a German surname with several etymologies, including one Hungarian and several Slavic.
Puls is a German surname, derived from the Slavic forename Boleš, a short form of Bolesław, meaning "great glory."
Lantz is a surname of German and Swedish origin.
Teschow is a North German surname of Lechitic West Slavic origin.
Pulß is a German surname, derived from the Slavic forename Boleš, a short form of Bolesław, meaning "great glory."