Panter Family History

German: topographic or habitational name referring to a house distinguished by the sign of a panther Middle High German panter (see Panther). North German: occupational name for a mortgager or pawn broker from a shortened form of Pfandherr.

English (mainly Northamptonshire) and Scottish: occupational name from Middle English paneter(e) ‘officer in charge of a pantry’ (Anglo-Norman French paneter Old French panetier); the panter of a monastery also distributed loaves to the poor.

Germanized or Americanized form (or a rare Slovenian variant) of Slovenian and Croatian (of Slovenian origin) Pantar: topographic name from a field name based on the dialect word pant ‘meadow that sticks to the landowner's house’ a word of German origin (see Painter).

The surname Panter is also a Gottscheerish surname i.e. It originates from the Kočevsko region (German Gottschee) of Lower Carniola formerly largely inhabited by descendants of German-speaking colonists (see Kocevar).

Compare Panther.