What important surname dictionary is there in your country?

[rothaer]

What important surname dictionary is there in your country?

In the German sphere you have the following important dictionaries (without claim to completeness):

- Bahlow, Hans, Deutsches Namenlexikon, 1967, 598 pp (has a number of later reprints with unchanged content).
- Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, Deutsche Sippennamen, 1936, 1515 pp (1st edition in five volumes, has a revised 2nd edition in two volumes renamed Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Familienamen, 1957-1960).
- Gottschald, Max, Schützeichel, Rudolf, Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen, revised 5th edition, 1982, 667 pp (has a revised 6th edition from 2006).
- Kohlheim, Rosa, Kohlheim, Volker, Duden Lexikon der Familiennamen, 2008, 720 pp.
- Naumann, Horst, Familiennamenbuch, revised 2nd edition, 1989, 328 pp (has a number of later reprints with unchanged content).

Furthermore, you have numerous German surname dictionaries with restricted topics, like Mecklenburgian, Silesian, and Pomeranian surnames, Polish surnames in the Ruhr area, Czech surnames in Vienna, Lusatian surnames of Slavic origin, Low German surnames that are composed by a (contracted) sentence, medieval surnames in the city of Basel etc. etc.
Just two of them that do have a somewhat wide subject and that can be expected to partly exceed the aforementioned generalist dictionaries shall nevertheless be mentioned:

- Linnartz, Kaspar, Unsere Familiennamen - Band 1 - Zehntausend Berufsnamen im Abc erklärt, revised 3rd edition, 1958, 274 pp (ten thousand surnames derived from professions only).
- Linnartz, Kaspar, Unsere Familiennamen - Band 2 - Aus deutschen und fremden Vornamen im Abc erklärt, revised 3rd edition, 1958, 292 pp (surnames derived from first names only).

The highest scientific authority do have the Gottschald and the Brechenmacher. But they are somewhat expensive. The Bahlow is both cheap and good and can be recommended if someone wants to get a good grasp on German names. The Duden to my perception is just a compilation without notable own etymologies.
Both Linnartz dictionaries are somewhat unknown.

[Katarzyna]

I wonder if my surname is in one of those books since it’s a very rare one

[rothaer]

I wonder if my surname is in one of those books since it’s a very rare one

I have the Bahlow, the Kohlheim (Duden) and the Gottschald and can have a look tomorrow. Also, I expect to receive the comprehensive Brechenmacher the next days and will then have a look there too.

EDIT: Btw. I found this site for surnames in Poland: https://nazwiska.ijp.pan.pl/

[Etelfrido]

Rothaer, if it's not a heavy weight on your shoulders could I PM you my surname for you to tell me what you think about its origins?

[rothaer]

Rothaer, if it's not a heavy weight on your shoulders could I PM you my surname for you to tell me what you think about its origins?

I can tackle that burden. But I'll reply tomorrow.

[Creoda]

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (2016), over 45k names.

Available online free now
https://books.google.com.au/books/ab...AJ&redir_esc=y

[Victor]

I wonder if my surname is in one of those books since it’s a very rare one

My Polish origin surname is on the list of hereditary nobles, published by the Poltava Noble Deputy Assembly in 1898.

[MCMXCV]

There is only one dictionary of surnames in Slovenia and it has been published recently:
Janez Keber, Leksikon priimkov, 2021.

It has 992 pages and features more than 19,000 surnames.

PDF Preview

[rothaer]

There is only one dictionary of surnames in Slovenia and it has been published recently:
Janez Keber, Leksikon priimkov, 2021.

It has 992 pages and features more than 19,000 surnames.

PDF Preview

Wow, this is a really big one for small Slovenia! Seemingly there are also given occurance figures for four different years for most names. Do you have a clue what those figures (for 1971 f. i.) are taken from?

The administrational conditions in the FRG would make it impossible to access the de-central data of registered residents from the last decades, so you can only work with things like old telephone registers, address books and one big source for existent surnames are the so called Verlustlisten (casualty lists) from WWI where there are millions of names and corresponding resident localities documented and published. (Paradoxically it's a listing of individuals that ceased to exist...)

Spoiler!

The Domowina-Verlag (publishing house) in Lusatia that is connected to the Sorb cultural minority provides a big number of books. Maybe interesting that they also use the term wendisch (here niederwendisch) in German to label their own kind: https://www.domowina-verlag.de/wisse...arec-2694.html

As you can see, these Wends - like the author of that dictionary - are labelled with different names in German (Ernst Mucke) and in Wendish (Arnošt Muka). Maybe it's an illustration of the identity conditions that both names are considered true and applicable and that there is no contradiction.

The respective applies to my personal perception to which these Wends are compatriot ethnic Germans that have preseved more of their roots in a folkloristic way, i. e. to me comparable with Germans that are caring for the Low German or North Frisian heritage. Admittedly, their self-perception and the perception by other Germans do mutually influence each other by forming some kind of concordance.

[Etelfrido]

As for the thread's topic I'm not aware of dictionaries on Brazilian surnames, maybe it's a new world thing. What I do when I search for surnames is to research their history in the area they're found, where they came from and when and then look for surname dictionaries of the country of origin, e.g. Portugal, Germany, Italy...