In European countries, as in the rest of the world, a person’s identity has been identified for many centuries by his name. An example is the son of God Jesus himself, who at birth was named Emmanuel, and then called Yeshua. The need to distinguish different people with the same name required explanatory additions. So the Savior began to call Jesus of Nazareth.
When the Germans got last names
German surnames arose according to the same principle as in other countries. Their formation in the peasant milieu of various lands continued until the 19th century, that is, in time coincided with the completion of state construction. The formation of a united Germany required a clearer and more unambiguous definition of who is who.
However, already in the XII century on the territory of the current Federal Republic of Germany there was nobility, and then German surnames first appeared. As in other European countries, middle name is not used for identification. But at birth, the baby is given, as a rule, two names. You can contact any person by adding a word meaning gender. Female German surnames are no different from male ones, they simply use the prefix “frau” in front of them.
Types of German last names
According to linguistic origin, German surnames can be divided into groups. The first and most common is formed from names, mostly male. This is due to the fact that the mass appropriation of surnames took place in a fairly short (in the historical sense) period, and there simply was no time for the manifestation of any sophisticated imagination.
Surnames derived from first names
The simplest of them are those whose creation they did not philosophize for a long time, but simply formed them on behalf of their first owner. They called some peasant Walter, and his descendants got this name. We also have the Ivanovs, Sidorovs and Petrovs, and their origin is similar to the German Johannes, Peters or Germans. From the point of view of historical background, such popular German surnames say little, except that some old ancestor was called Peters.
Profession as a morphological basis of a surname
German surnames, speaking about the professional affiliation of their first owner, one might say, the ancestor, are somewhat less common. But the diversity of this group is much wider. The most famous surname in it is Mueller, it means “miller” in translation. The English counterpart is Miller, and in Russia or Ukraine it is Melnik, Melnikov or Melnichenko.
The famous composer Richard Wagner could have suggested that one of his ancestors was engaged in freight transport on his own cart, the ancestor of the storyteller Hoffmann owned his own household yard, and the great-grandfather of the pianist Richter was a judge. Schneiders and Shredders once tailored, and the Sings loved to sing. There are other interesting German male surnames. The list is continued by Fischer (fisherman), Becker (baker), Bauer (peasant), Weber (weaver), Zimmermann (carpenter), Schmidt (blacksmith) and many others.
There was once during the war Gauleiter Koch, the same one who was blown up by underground guerrillas. Translated, his last name means "cook". Yes, he made porridge …
Surnames as a description of appearance and character
Some male and possibly female German surnames come from the appearance or character of their first owner. For example, the word "lange" in translation means "long", and we can assume that its original founder was tall, for which he received such a nickname. Klein (small) is its exact opposite. Krause means "curly", such an attractive feature of the hair of some Frau, who lived a couple of centuries ago, can be inherited. The ancestors of Fuchs were most likely cunning, like foxes. The ancestors of Weiss, Brown or Schwartz, respectively, were blondes, brown-haired or brunettes. Hartmans were distinguished by excellent health and strength.
Slavic origin of German surnames
German lands in the east always bordered on Slavic states, and this created the conditions for the mutual penetration of cultures. Well-known German surnames with the endings “-its”, “-s”, “-of”, “-ek”, “-ke” or “-sky” have a pronounced Russian or Polish origin.
Lutzov, Disterhof, Dennitz, Modrov, Janke, Radetzky and many others have long been accustomed to, and their total share is one fifth of the total number of German surnames. In Germany, they are perceived as their own.
The same applies to the ending "-er", derived from the word "yar", meaning in the ancient Slavic language of man. The painter, teslyar, fisherman, baker are clear examples of such cases.
During the period of Germanization, many similar surnames were simply translated into German, choosing the appropriate roots or replacing the ending with “-er, ” and now nothing reminds of the Slavic origin of their owners (Smolyar - Smoler, Sokolov - Sokol - Falk).
Baron backgrounds
There are very beautiful German surnames, consisting of two parts: the main one and the prefix, usually “background” or “der”. They contain information not only about unique features of appearance, but also about famous historical events in which the owners of these nicknames took part, sometimes active. Therefore, descendants are proud of such names and often recall their ancestors when they want to emphasize their own good birth. Walter von der Vogelweid - it sounds! Or here is von Richthoffen, the pilot and the Red Baron.
However, not only former glory becomes the reason for such complications in writing. The origin of German surnames can be much more prosaic and talk about the area in which the person was born. What, for example, does Dietrich von Byrne mean? Everything is clear: his ancestors come from the capital of Switzerland.
German surnames of Russian people
The Germans in Russia have lived since pre-Petrine times, populating ethnically the whole areas called "settlements". However, then all Europeans were called that way, but under the great emperor-reformer, the influx of immigrants from German lands was encouraged in every way. The process gained momentum during the reign of Catherine the Great.
German colonists settled in the Volga region (Saratov and Tsaritsin provinces), as well as in New Russia. A large number of Lutherans subsequently converted to Orthodoxy and assimilated, but they remained with German names. For the most part, they are the same as those worn by immigrants who came to the Russian Empire during the 16th-18th centuries, except when clerks, paperworkers, made mistakes and clerical errors.
Jewish Names
Rubinstein, Hoffmann, Aizhentshtayn, Vaysberg, Rosenthal and many other names of citizens of the Russian Empire, the USSR and post-Soviet countries, many mistakenly consider Jewish. This is not true. However, there is some truth in this statement.
The fact is that, since the end of the 17th century, Russia has become the country where every enterprising and hard-working person could find his place in life. There was enough work for everyone, new cities were being built at an accelerated pace, especially in New Russia, conquered from the Ottoman Empire. It was then that Nikolaev, Ovidiopol, Kherson and, of course, the pearl of the south of Russia - Odessa appeared on the map.
Extremely favorable economic conditions were created for foreigners coming to the country, as well as for their own citizens who wished to explore new lands, and political stability, supported by the military power of the regional leader, guaranteed that this situation would remain for a long time.
Currently, Lustdorf (Merry Village) has become one of the Odessa suburbs, and then it was a German colony, the main occupation of the inhabitants of which was agriculture, mainly viticulture. They also knew how to brew beer.
Jews, famous for their business savvy, trading vein and craft abilities, also did not remain indifferent to the call of the Russian Empress Catherine. In addition, musicians, artists and other artists of this nationality came from Germany. The surnames of most of them were German, and they spoke Yiddish, which in its essence is one of the dialects of the German language.
At that time there was a “Pale of Settlement”, outlining, however, a sufficiently large and not worse part of the empire. In addition to the Black Sea region, Jews took a fancy to many areas of the present Kiev region, Bessarabia and other fertile lands, having built small towns-towns. It is also important that living below the Pale of Settlement was mandatory only for those Jews who remained faithful to Judaism. By accepting Orthodoxy, everyone could settle in any part of a vast country.
Thus, bearers of German surnames became immigrants from Germany of two nationalities at once.
