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Did you all know that the word for "Blacksmith" is a common surname in many languages
English = Smith
German = Schmidt
Dutch / Afrikaans = Smits
French = Lebrun
Portuguese = Ferreira
Spanish = Herrera
Polish = Kowalski (feminine Kowalska)
Hungarian = Kovacs
Czech = Kovac
Yugoslavia = Kovacic
Russian = Kuznetsov
Arabic / Lebanese = Haddad
"Lover of God" in several languages
German = Gottlieb
Italian = Amadeo
Latin = Amadeus
French = Amadeu
Greek = Theopholis
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Interesting... I just look up the cemetery where most of my family on mom's side is buried. There are 357 interments there, listed by surnames...
40 - Brown (Scottish)
28 - Thomas (Welsh)
19 - Wilkerson (English)
15 - Roy (Anglized French)
14 -York
11 - Withers (English)
6- Thornton
6 - Wade (English)
5 - Shaw
5 - Weir (Scottish, my grandmother's side)
5 - Wilson
4 - Abernathy (Scottish)
3 - Stephens (English)
3 - Tarter (French)
3 - Williams (Welsh)
2 - Stone (Scottish)
2 - Bernard (French)
2 - Bowmer (English)
2 - Blair (Scottish)
2 - Turner
2 - Sullivan
2 - Smith
2 - Warner
1 - Allen (English)
1 - Baker
1 - Stanley
1 - Russell
1 - Sales
1 - Schmidt
In Cincinnati, there are a lot of German surnames. One sure sign is a name that ends in "ke." The "ke" is always pronounced, and you say it like "key."
It means "little" or "son of," just like "Mac," "Mc," "son," "sen" or "ette."
Bertke
Gerke
Gramke
Hartke
Henke
Jahnke
Macke
Meineke
Menke
Reinke
Tapke
Walke
Warnke/Wernke/Wernicke
Wilke
My mother's family has a name that ends in "bach" (it means "brook"), and that is also another common German prefix or suffix.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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It's also of note that most German ancestors in Kentucky outside Louisville and Northern Kentucky have anglicized surnames. For example Maggard is a common name in Eastern Kentucky but it is a Swiss German name (Maegert), not Scottish. Kentucky's "Maggards" descend from 2 grandsons of the great anabaptist preacher Samuel Maegert.
Other German examples on my family tree..
Trease = Driese
Holt = Holz
Gabbert = Gerbert
Spainhower = Spanhaur
Also..
Conover = Van Kagwagen (Dutch name, descents of one of NYC's first Dutch families)
Updike = Van Dyke (see above)
Helm = Akkeson (Swedish name, helm means helmet, was a nickname for the first to immigrate)
In Ramsey County, Minnesota (Saint Paul and eastern suburbs):
Johnson
Anderson
Paulson
Nelson
Olson
Miller
Brown
White
Lee
Olson
Parenteau
Vadnais
Carlson
Swanson
O'Connor
(also alot of hmong names like Vang, Yang, and Her)
The town I grew up in in Wisconsin, the most common surname was Vande Zande, there were about 20 of those listed in the phone book, slightly ahead of Johnson. The next most common name was Landaal, followed (if counted together) by Looman/Loomans. I think then Schultz came before Brown and Smith.
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german names
