Where in the World is your Surname From? Posted 30 January 2018 by Paul HowesIn recent years, the Guild has worked hard to increase the registration of surnames whose origins begin outside of the British Isles. We are delighted to announce that we now have 100 of these surnames registered. When our list started 5 years ago there were just 28 surnames. These surnames and their country of origin are listed in the Members’ Wiki, but also appear at the end of this post in case you cannot spot them all in the image below. Image made by Wordcloud.com Alviani – Italy Bacharach – Germany Baldacchino – Malta or Italy Balla – Hungary Barralet – France Bazzoni – Italy Bernstein – Germany Bertschinger – Switzerland Beauvais (and Beavois Beaves, Beevis, Bevisas variants of Beavis) – France Bonnette – France Bodnar (with variants Bednarz, Bodnarchuk, Bodnarczuk, Bodnarenko, Bodnaruk) Bouteloup – France Boutilier – France Briese – Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Brobbel – Netherlands Bullwinkle – Germany Cannarella – Italy Carbaugh – Germany Chapkofski – Lithuania Constantine – from the Cotentin peninsula Cordani – Italy Crosser – German (in the USA, although some there are Scots) Cuono – Italy Danchin – France De Hungerford – France De Mamiel – France De Maillet – France Didymus – Greece (and variants Dedamess, Diddams, Didemus, Didimouse, Didimus) (also some in Germany & USA) Dohoo – France/Germany Dominicus – Netherlands DuBose – France Ducate – Belgium, France Edes – Hungary Engers – Germany/Netherlands/Norway Ferdinando (with variants Ferdinand, Fernandes, Fernandez, Ferdi and Ferdy) – Spain Festa – Italy Fritz – Germany Fron – Poland Glaentzer – Germany Grandi – Italy Hellfritzsch – Germany Hochreiter – Austria/Germany Hosaflook – Netherlands Izod – France Kipp – France (De Kype), the Netherlands (Kip) and Germany (Kipp) Kester/Kuster – Germany Kleinhans – Germany Komonchak – Slovakia? Koonce, Koontz – Germany Laccohee – Wallonia, Belgium Lafranchi – Swiss/Italian Lambert – France & UK Leru/Leroux – France Los – Poland Lupfer – Switzerland Machula – Eastern Europe Macon – France Marafie – Kuwait and the Arabian peninsula Neugarten – Jewish Norstedt – Scandinavia Orlando – Italy Palcic – Slovenia Panchaud – Switzerland Pepler/Peplow – Germany/England Philippides – Greece Pikholz – East Galicia formerly Austria now Western Ukraine Plantinga – Netherlands Pocobello – Italy Probasco/Probatski – Poland Pruyn – Netherlands Ranger – France/Germany/Switzerland (also Britain) Rasco – Dalmatia/Netherlands/Spain Rata/Ratat – France Renger – Netherlands Riemenschneider – Germany Robles – Spain Rocker – Germany Ruby – Eastern Europe Runkle/Runkel – Germany Santee – multiple countries in Western Europe/Scandinavia? Seyffert – Germany Simpfendorfer – Germany Snoeren – Netherlands Spathaky (Spathakis) – Greece Speidel – Germany Steiert – Germany Stermenszky (with variants Sterman, Stermenski, Stermensky, Stermenzsky) – Hungary Stymiest – Germany, Netherlands, Scandinavia Tentoni – Italy Utischill – Germany Vandervord – Netherlands Vidaurri – Spain Villot – France Weissleder – Germany Werdesheim – Galicia, Eastern Europe Willing – England, but also Germany and Netherlands Woertman – Germany/Netherlands Zanzig – Germany Zealand – Netherlands Zdziebko – Poland If you are a Guild Member and your study’s surname is missing from this list OR if you would be interested in registering your non-British origin study with the Guild, then please do get in touch.
Taneya Koonce says 1 February 2018 at 4:23 am And I’m delighted to have contributed Koonce/Koontz as the 100th name!!!
Julie Goucher says 1 February 2018 at 4:26 am Welcome to the Guild Taneya, I hope you enjoy your membership and I look forward to hearing about your study as it evolves. Best wishes, Julie
Gary Barton says 1 February 2018 at 3:39 pm A few confusing or incomplete entries: Beauvais (country of origin) Bodnar (country of origin) Briese (which is the country of origin?) Engers (three different countries of origin?) Regards, Gary
Julie Goucher says 1 February 2018 at 4:22 pm Gary, With some of the surnames it is not clear as to where the origins of the surname is, especially in particular pockets of European countries where the group of countries experienced peaks of migration because their was the influence of an Empire, for example Austrian Hungarian empire. Where more than one has been identified by the study holder they have specified the most likely, but are still undertaking research. That said, I have corrected the entry for Beauvais which is of course, France.
Paul Howes says 1 February 2018 at 7:37 pm Hi Gary. Don’t forget too that this is a wiki. If you don’t like something, by all means change it. Central and Eastern Europe is a particular problem area due to changes in borders, occupying powers, migrations and so on. Paul