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The german Surname

german Name Meaning and History

  1. English: ethnic name from Old French germain ‘German’ (Latin Germanus). This sometimes denoted an actual immigrant from Germany, but was also used to refer to a person who had trade or other connections with German-speaking lands. The Latin word Germanus is of obscure and disputed origin; the most plausible of the etymologies that have been proposed is that the people were originally known as the ‘spear-men’, with Germanic ger, gar ‘spear’ as the first element.
  2. English (of Norman origin): from the Old French personal name Germain (see Germain).
  3. Americanized spelling of Spanish Germán or Hungarian Germán, cognates of 2.
  4. German: from the saint’s name German(us). See also Germann.
  5. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): Russianized variant of Hermann.
  6. Greek: reduced form of Germanos, a Greek personal name, bestowed in honor of saints of the Eastern Church distinct from St. Germain: in particular, St. Germanos in the 8th century, liturgical poet and patriarch of Constantinople. The Greek surname can also denote someone associated with Germany or someone with blond hair.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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german Family Facts

Distribution of german Families in the US in 1920
Number of german families
 149-296
 50-148		 1-49
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.co.uk from the 1920 US Federal Census records

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