German-American NamesThis is an A-Z dictionary of German-American names, giving spellings, meanings, and variants of about 18,000 names. This third edition of his acclaimed "German-American Names" is longer than the earlier editions and has several thousand more entries. Like the earlier editions, it attempts to explain the meaning of names borne today by Americans which derive from the German language or its dialects. Moreover, it deals with the Americanization of some of those names, explaining the social and historical phenomena that contributed to the distinctive character of German-American names. And it deals as well with names many of us would never have thought of as German. |
Common terms and phrases
55 little 94 dweller Albrecht alder ancient Germans army ash tree baker barley barrel maker battle bear beech Bernhard birch boar Boettcher brake bright Buehl Buehler bullrush bush castle Christian clearing corvée cutter dealer Dietrich dike eagle enclosure English farmer fish folk etymology forest fr Latin Friedrich Geber Gerhard German names German sound shift German-American names Germanic languages goose Gottfried hamlet hammer hare hedge Heid Heinrich Helmbrecht helmet High German sound hill horse house name hurst iron Johann keeper Kofel Kraehbuehl land Latin linden marsh marsh dweller meadow meaning mill miller Nikolaus noble peasant person place name pond pope raiser raven raven mountain reed Reinhard Reitenauer river name root seller shortened form Siegbald Slavic slope smith spear spring stag stone stream strong surnames swamp brook swamp dweller swamp farm swamp field swamp mountain swamp village swamp water sword taverner valley wolf wood word