Hauptmann Family History

German: status name for a headman leader or captain from Middle High German houb(e)t houpt ‘head’ + man ‘man’. This word denoted any of various civil and military officials at different times and places; it is found as a surname in many parts of central Europe (see Hauptman).

The first element represents the original ancient Germanic word for ‘head’ but already during the Middle Ages it was being replaced in the literal sense by Kopf so that today it is retained only in compounds such as this where it has the transferred sense ‘chief principal’.

Jewish: mainly an adoption of the German surname (see 1 above).