Family Names Project
Bristol Centre for Linguistics
University of the West of England
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Population statistics
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A bit of American history: religion, politics, migration
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The Dictionary of American Family Names (DAFN):
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Scope of the work: aims and role.
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Case studies: what happened to German names in America, and when?
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Conclusion: the need for research funding.

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2010 census:
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Total population of USA in 2010: 310 million.
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Over 50 million Americans identified themselves in 2010 as being of German ancestry.
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Who were these ancestors? Why did they come to the USA?
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This figure includes German speakers from the Austro-
Hungarian Empire, Switzerland, Alsace, and elsewhere.
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What about the Volga Germans from Russia?
 Yes, they, too, are “Germans”.
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What about German- and Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic Jewish immigrants?

Selection of Entries:
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First edition (2003): 70.000 entries.
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Second edition (?2018): 80.000 entries.
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~20.000 entries (25%) have German etymologies.
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Over 30 other languages, 30 expert contributors.
GOAL:
To explain the etymology of all family names borne by more than 200 Americans in the 2010 census
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Plus many other names of historical, genealogical, and philological interest.
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Include occasional historical notes on early immigrants:
• “Do we know who first brought this name to North America?”

At least 210 German/Dutch names in DAFN are unexplained, incl.:
Altermatt (232 bearers in 2010 ), Swiss German
Bacorn (318)
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The Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, NY, records the baptism on Nov. 20, 1736, of Job, son of Job and Jannetie Becoren.
Baumunk (221)
Blehm (567)
Blauch (308) and Blouch (356), Swiss German
Dalsing (204)
Dreith (207)
Durtschi (261), Swiss German
Etzkorn (431)
Feuling (248)

• Stuyvesant (Only 160 bearers in 2010) director general of New Netherland 1647–64
• Dana
There has been much speculation about the origins of this famous
American family name. The most plausible theory is that it is a
Huguenot name, a variant of D’Aunay , from any of several places in France called Aunay. However, the name acquired an Irish flavor, being associated erroneously with a Gaelic forename likewise spelled Dana.
Richard Dana came from England in 1640 to Cambridge, MA, where he died in 1690. His most famous descendant was Richard
Henry Dana (1815–82), author of Two Years before the Mast .

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Before etymologizing can start, we have to know the language and culture (and dialect, where possible) in which the name originated.
• To do this, we get the computer to correlate ‘ diagnostic ’ given names with unexplained surnames.
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Forenames display enduring cultural loyalty.
• Even among people who no longer speak the source language.
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Examples of diagnostically German given names: Karlheinz,
Wolfgang, Wolf-Armin, Dietlind, Volker.
• Non-diagnostic: Peter, Patrick, Angela, Rosa, Claudia
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Getting to second base:
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Social media such as Linked In can give a clear indication of the likely country of origin of an unexplained named.

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Virginia : founded 1607. English. Named in memory of the
Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I (died 1603): settled by merchant adventurers, planters, and slave owners.
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New England: 1620. Settled by Puritan Dissenters from England.
Pilgrim Fathers, Massachusetts.
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Given names: Praisegod, Wrestling; Jabez, Caleb, Abraham ;
Mercy, Patience, Prudence; Zillah, Rebecca, Abigail .
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New Netherland – 1611-64 . Hudson Valley, from New
Amsterdam (= New York) to Albany. Settled by Dutch Protestants and French Huguenots.
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New France – founded 1574 . Canada (Roman Catholics).
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New Spain - founded 1521 . Mexico. (Conquistadores; Roman
Catholics).
» But no “New Germany”. Why not?

1. No old “Germany” (before Bismarck).
Instead, a politically disparate collection of principalities, and other administrative entities, some very small.
2. Cuius regio, eius religio (Your religion was determined by where you lived)
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A principle devised at the Peace of Augsburg, 1555, but not fully enforced till after the end of the 30 Years War in 1648
3. Very little German migration to North America before C18.
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Huge influx after 1700, especially to Pennsylvania and Maryland.
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In most of the colonies, only Protestants were admitted by the British authorities.
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The influx continued in C19 and C20, especially following political upheavals in Europe (for example, in 1848 and 1933).

1730 – New Brunswick, NJ, 1730
• named for the family of the Hanoverian King George I. (They came from Braunschweig.)
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This is also also the name of a province of Canada, likewise named for the family of the King George I.
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It is largely populated by French-speaking Roman Catholics
1833 – New Bremen , OH.
1840 – New Berlin, WI (not much more than a village).
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1839 – Teutopolis, Illinois. Population in 2010: 1,530.
AND:
Date of foundation not given – New Germany, MI . Population
(2010): 372.

1678 – New Paltz , NY (not German at all; it was founded by
French Huguenots from Mannheim, Pfalz )
1683
– Thirteen German Mennonites families arrived in
Pennsylvania; led by Franz Pastorius, they founded
Germantown , near Philadelphia.
1741
– Groups of Moravian Brethren founded
Bethlehem and
Nazareth , PA.
1880s
– The “German triangle” (Cincinnati – Milwaukee –
Saint Louis).

The many Americanized forms of German names arose in the 18 th century ( not in the 19 th century at Ellis Island).
Typically, a German immigrant in the 18 th century bore two forms of his/her surname: one – the original German form – was used in the family circle, among neighbors, and with other German speakers. The other – an Anglicized form – was at first reserved for official purposes, i.e. for dealings with the English-speaking bureaucracy.
This duality was normal up to the mid 19 th century.
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German immigrants to America before about 1800 tended to develop an
Americanized form of their German family name.
• German immigrants to America after about 1850 tended to keep the German spelling of their family name, with one exception. If the name contained an umlaut, it was lost or altered to something else.

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Ehrhardt > Earhart
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Klein > Cline
• Böhm
> Beam (overlapping with a pre-existing English name).
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Wege > Waggy (borne by VA descendants of Philip Wege, died
1812.) In Ohio, there is only one –g-: Wagy
. The name means ‘road’; presumably, a family so named lived beside a main road.
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Eisenhauer > Eisenhower. Hans Nikolaus Eisenhauer, ancestor of
Dwight D. Eisenhower, was born about 1691 in Eiterbach in
Odenwald, part of the former Palatinate, in what is now Hesse. In
1741, at the age of 50, he sailed with his wife and children from
Rotterdam to America and settled in Lebanon County, PA.

-bach becomes -baugh (and variants).
German long
–ais respelled as
–au-
German Achenbach > U.S. Aughenbaugh
German Allenbach > U.S. Allenbaugh, Alumbaugh
Gernan Bickenbach > U.S. Peckenpaugh, Peckinpah
German Slabach > U.S. Slaubauch
• In many cases, the German original spelling and one or more Americanized spellings continue to coexist today.
• In some cases, these differences may be the result of different immigration events at different times, while in other cases they are from divergent descendants of a single immigrant ancestor.
• Such questions can only be decided by detailed, painstaking genealogical research. There are over 100 such alternations of –bach in DAFN and many more not yet researched.

-brecht > -bright, -brite, -brick, -brack
In America, the German family name Albrecht was assimilated to pre-existing English Albright .
However, many other –bright names are uniquely American: e.g.
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Argabright, Argabrite, Argenbright, and Ercanbrack (< the Gmc personal name Erkenbrecht ‘perfect bright, i.e. famous’)
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Englebright (< German Engelbrecht ‘angel bright’)
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Fulbright (< Gmc Vol(k)behrt ‘people bright’)
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Hambrick (< Gmc Haginberht ‘enclosure famous’)
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Waybright, Weybright (< Gmc personal name Wigbehrt ‘battle famous’).

German –sch- was regularly re-spelled in America as –sh-
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Thus,
Schönemann became American Shanaman.
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Drescher became Dresher
German -ch often became
–ck
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Reich became Rike
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Barichmann became Barickman
South German/Alsatian Pf was simplified to P or F:
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Poffenberger from Pfaffenberger
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Pershing from Pfoersching
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Pennypacker from Pfannebecker.
South German P and B were interchangeable:
» Bäsinger became Paysinger.

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German Helmenthaler > U.S. Helmandollar
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German Reichenthaler > U.S. Richendollar
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German Kirchthaler > U.S. Cashdollar

Wegley looks like an English place-name, but you would search the
U.K. Atlas in vain. In fact it derives from Wegli , a South German diminutive of Wege .
Other examples:
Balsley > Swabian Bälzle or Swiss Balzli >Balthasar
Cagley > K ägli
Coberly >
Köberle
Deatley > Dietl(i) >Dietrich
Eisley > Eisele

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Kuhn > Keene
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Eschler > Ashley
• Bächle
,
Bächli
> Beckley
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Kohli > Coley
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There is often more to the etymology of an English name in
America than its purely English etymology.
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American names assimilate on a massive scale.

Out of 70,000 American family names, an explanation of the origin has been researched and published for over 66,000.
The come from all over the world – including countries where there is no tradition of etymological scholarship.
In such cases, we sometimes attempt primary research. Ina few cases, we are foreed to confess “unexplained”.
We would like to add more new entries, more new explanations.
We would like to add historical and other detailed information for names which we already explain.

Goodykoontz
• No doubt a C18 Americanization of Gutekunst (nickname, = ‘good work’).
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But too rare for DAFN. (It has fewer than 100 bearers).
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There are still thousands of such names awaiting research and explanation.
Maybe in some future edition. …

Most Jewish names in North America are Ashkenazic, i.e. from central, northern, and eastern Europe, with a Germanic or Slavic etymology.
It is not always possible to distinguish a Jewish name from a German name.
• 979 names in DAFN are identified as being both German and Jewish.
• Other names of German are distinctively Jewish.
Many names are both German and Jewish, e.g.: Althaus (U.S. Althouse ),
Blatt, Blech, Bleicher, Bodenstein, Ehrenreich, Goldschmidt (U.S.
Goldsmith ), Hirschberg, Homburg, Katzenstein, Lemberg, Rosenfeld,
Rosenheim, Salomon, Schnitzler, Steinhardt, Strumpf, Wertheim.
Cities such as Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg (source of the Jewish surnames Halpern and Alperin, and the ornamental variant Alperstein ) had important medieval Jewish communities, dating back to the 11 th century.

228 entries in DAFN are of Sorbian etymology, including:
• Barnick ‘ram’
• Blaske = Blasius
• Chuba and Schuba ‘fur’; Schubach and Chubbuck ‘furrier’
• Fandrich and Handrick = Andreas
• Gaubatz ‘braggart’
• Groetsch ‘castle’
• Grubich ‘big’
• Gude ‘poor’
• Jentzsch = Johannes
• Jugan ‘southerner’
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Kieschnick
‘cottager’
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Noffke
‘newcomer’
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Perschke (type of fish)
• Saupe ‘steward’
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Seba
‘finch’
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Tkac
‘weaver’.

Polish Americans prefer to keep the Polish spelling of their names, even though this does not lend itself to English spelling-to-sound rules.
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The American pronunciation of Polish Krzywicki is “krizwicky”.
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Polish names do not conform to German spelling-to-sound rules, either.
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What would be the German pronunciation of Krzywicki ?

Many etymological explanations in DAFN are only tentative. They need more work, despite the best efforts of ourselves and previous authors.
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Some received explanations are doubtful – e.g. Bahlow’s ‘water’ names
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In other cases, the surname has never been explained at all.
Geographical distribution and local dialects (Deutsche Familiennamenatlas in Germany; in the USA nothing similar exists )
Study migration; analyse C17 and transatlantic passenger lists
Establish links to reliable genealogical studies.
Correlate with genetics (DNA studies) .

I would like to pay tribute to the unfailing support of colleagues, in particular:
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Dr. Edda Gentry of State College, Pennsylvania, contributor for German names to
DAFN, on whose work many of the examples in this talk are based
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Professor Dr. Dieter Kremer of Leipzig and Trier, contributor for Hispanic name and general adviser for onomastics in Romance languages
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Professor Richard Coates of the Bristol Centre for Linguistics, University of the
West of England, Principal Investigator of the research project “Family Names in
Britain and Ireland” and general onomastic guru
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Dr. Adam Rambousek, Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University, Brno, CZ, software engineer, database manager, and trouble shooter, without whose skill none of our research projects in onomastics could be undertaken or published
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Ms Kate Hardcastle, managing editor of the first edition of DAFN
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Ms Rebecca Campbell, managing editor of the second edition of DAFN
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Our publishers, Damon Zucca and Max Sinsheimer of OUP, New York.