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When and where on this planet did this surname originate?  Is it monophyletic, meaning having a single origin, or polyphyletic, meaning having multiple separate origins?  What meaning did it have originally?  Is it an old or new surname, relative to others?  These are just some of the questions that interest academic researchers and perhaps you too.

An important part of this study is rigorous pedigree (family tree) reconstruction based on historical records. Well-documented pedigrees are used to discover surname variants and deviants.  Proven variants are added to the study. Proven deviants are useful search terms when historical records are elusive.

This study builds on extensive prior work by many others.  All genealogists stand on the shoulders of all those before us who in some way made their work available to the world.  The vast majority of work specific to this study is being contributed to FamilySearch Family Tree, where it is already benefiting countless others working on families with surname Zentner or a variant and families connected to them.

All historical records in which Zentner or a variant occur are attached to profiles of all persons mentioned in the record.  In addition, all available records are attached to the profiles of the other parent, all spouses, and all children.  The result is many tall, robust, well documented family trees that narrowly follow the male pedigree, with stubs for all related pedigrees.  Brick walls are crossed with ease, largely as a side effect, because they are approached from both sides.

Whenever feasible, deviants due to transcription errors are being corrected.  Family Search now supports correction of indexing errors and annotation of probable recording errors in historical records.

This study has found Zentner families in which Centner, Czentner, Kentner, and Sentner are proven descendants.  Some origin theories suggest descent of Zentner from Centner but this is not proved.

Patrick Hanks' Dictionary of American Family Names lists Centner as an Americanized spelling variant of Zentner, Sentner as a possible variant of Zentner, and Zentner as a variant of either Zehner or Zentener.

Globally Gentner is less rare than Zentner.  Variant links between these surnames have not been found. What have been found are many deviants due to transient transcriptions of handwritten Z as G and G as Z.

Many instances of surnames phonetically similar to Zentner have proven to be deviants of Zentner, the result of phonetic writing (eg Zenntner, Sentner) and transcription errors (eg Gentner, Lentner). Transcription errors have also produced a relatively high frequency of phonetically dis-similar deviants (eg Zentnes, Zentuer, Zeutner). Well documented pedigrees are a valuable tool for identifying deviants, and examining deviant surnames can help to find families to include in this study.

The major genealogy search engines use phonetic matching if the user does not require an exact match, and research is improving the utility of phonetic matching.  Much of the work of this study is searching historical records using phonetic matching and then ignoring the surnames not likely to be relevant, examining all others.

Surnames phonetically similar to Zentner, using Beider Morse Phonetic Matching (BMPM) on SteveMorse.org: Centner, Cintinni, Cointner, Czentner, Gendtner, Genthner, Genthnes, Gentinne, Gentinni, Gentner, Gienthner, Gindtner, Gintner, Jentner, Sandtner, Schentner, Semtner, Sendtner, Sentenne, Sentner, Sentney, Sintner, Sondtner, Szentner, Zandtner, Zantner, Zehntner, Zentned, Zihntner, Zintner, Zontner. These are the matching indexed surnames of passengers arriving at Ellis Island in the years 1892–1924, n=416 passengers. Exact matching on Zentner or names starting with Zentner returns n=94 passengers and surnames Zentnerschwer, Zentnerowitz, Zentner-Stein, Zentnerwchwer. Soundex phonetic search returns n=2258 passengers with surnames including Santamaria (n=1000) and Centamore (n=50). The search tools on SteveMorse.org demonstrate the utility of BMPM relative to other search pattern matching.

Surnames phonetically similar to Zentner on Forebears.io, in order of similarity and ignoring those with global incidence under 10: Zehntner, Szentner, Zientner, Zenthner, Czentner, Zhentner, Gentner, Centner, Sentner, Jentner, Zintner, Genthner, Tsentner, Sendtner, Genttner. The Forebears.io method of calculating similarity is not disclosed.

Other surnames found, needing research: Zentnei, Zentnerová, Zentnowska, Zentnor.

The origin of the surname Zentner is quite unknown.  Numerous speculative origin theories have been published.

Zentner as an occupation.  The suffix -ner suggests an occupational or locational name.  No known location is associated with it, however.  Nor is Zentner a known occupation, although occupations such as tax collector or district judge have been suggested by scholars, presumably because Zent sounds similar to German Zehn (ten).  Here the chain of reasoning breaks.

Zentner as political or military rank, based on a presumed folk etymology having something vaguely to do with Roman Centurions.  The word Zentner is a German common noun meaning hundredweight.  It is presumed to derive from the Classical Latin stem cent- meaning 100.  Depending on context, 1 Zentner is 100 pounds or 100 kilograms.  The Zentner was in wide commercial use in the 19th Century for bulk materials sold by weight but, like the hundredweight, the Zentner fell out of use in the 20th Century with the advent of standardized units of mass.

Zentner as a quintessentially German numeral surname.  German numeral surnames are, er, numerous:  Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier, Funf, Sechs, Sieben, Acht, Neun, Zehn, Elf, Zwölf and Dutzend, Dreizhen, . . . , Zwanzig, Dreizig and Dreißig, Vierzig, Funfzig, Sechszig, Siebzig, Achtzig, Neunzig, Hundert.  Those are cardinal surnames;  ordinal surnames, formed by the suffix -te, are Erst and Erste, Zweite, Dritte, Vierte, et cetera.

The noun Zentner is the stem of a German adjective, zentnerschwer, literally hundredweight heavy  and meaning very heavy; the German idiomatic expression es liegt mir zentnerschwer means it weighs very heavily on me.  It stands to reason then, that Zentnerschwer too is a surname, a predominantly Jewish one.

The surname Zentner has two centers of early historical distribution:  in southwestern Germany and in a high Alpine valley in eastern Switzerland, Canton Glarus. Historically, these centers were connected by trade routes along the Rhine River and its tributary Senft River. Today the Alpine valley is a cul-de-sac, but for thousands of years prior it was the intersection of two major overland trade routes, one north-south across the Alps and one east-west along ridge lines.

In the early 18th Century Zentner was a common surname in some German colonies in Colonial America, the Russian Empire, and Hungary. These Zentner families were predominantly Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Jewish.

The 19th Century Swiss colony of New Glarus in Wisconsin USA was settled by immigrants from Canton Glarus.  Zentner is a common surname among American descendants of these pioneers.

The Forebears.io 2014 global distribution map is a map of incidence, meaning numbers of persons.  In the dataset used there are 5X more Zentners in the United States than in Canada, but there are 2X more Zentners per capita in Canada than in the United States.

Family Search now has tens of thousands of historical records with the surname Zentner or variant.

Identifying records within the scope of this study involves significant work with records not within scope.  All work has value;  all work goes into FamilySearch Family Tree where it benefits other genealogy projects.

As of February 2021 this study has generated over 10,000 new person profiles, merged thousands of duplicate profiles, and attached over 90,000 historical records.  Now Family Tree has over 10,000 profiles of persons with surnames in this study:  6027 Zentner, 1144 Centner, 708 Czentner, 708 Tzentner, 1576 Kentner, and more.  This count includes maiden and married surnames of women.

Your participation is welcome!  You can help simply by doing family tree work in Family Tree.