Gemeinhardt Family History
Gemeinhardt Name Meaning
South German: apparently a topographic name for someone living in or near a municipal forest from Middle High German gemein ‘common’ + hard(t) ‘wood forest’. In northern Germany however the name is a fake formation of a personal name from Gemein(d)er Gemeinert ‘co-owner companion’ + the name component hard as in Gebhard Hartwig (Old High German hart ‘strong’). One reason for this development is probably the semantic change of gemein from ‘common’ to ‘bad mean’.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022