Burger Family History

German (also Bürger) Dutch and English: status name for a freeman of a borough especially one who was a member of its governing council. The term is a derivative of Middle High German burc, Middle Dutch burch, Middle English burg ‘(fortified) town’. The surname of German origin is also found in some other parts of Europe, e.g., in France (Alsace and Lorraine), Poland, Czechia, Slovenia, and Croatia (see also 3 below).

It also occurs as a Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname, but the reasons for its adoption are uncertain. The English name is found occasionally as a surname from the 13th century onward, but is not recorded as a vocabulary word until the 16th century. The usual English term was the Old French word burgeis ‘burgess’ (see Burgess).

This surname is also established in South Africa. Compare Buerger. German: habitational name for someone from any of the many places called Burg.

Germanized or Americanized form of Slovenian Burgar, a status name of the same Middle High German origin as 1 above.