Origin of a few German (Jewish?) names

**Grey** · 09-09-2009, 03:57 PM

There are quite a few names in my parents' genealogies that I can't find the meaning of. Anyone who speaks German want to help decipher them?

Edelmer - Pretty sure this one's Jewish. I know Edel means noble, and Edelstein is a jewish name.

Koenig/Koenicker - No idea.

Steilyens - No idea

Frederic - I don't know, which is odd because this seems like a fairly common name

Freyen - No idea.

Zanger - Dutch for Singer. I've known a a lot of Jewish Singers.

There are more. If anyone is interested in helping, I'll add them later.

**Hrolf Kraki** · 09-09-2009, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Grey

There are quite a few names in my parents' genealogies that I can't find the meaning of. Anyone who speaks German want to help decipher them?

Edelmer - Pretty sure this one's Jewish. I know Edel means noble, and Edelstein is a jewish name.

Koenig/Koenicker - No idea.

Steilyens - No idea

Frederic - I don't know, which is odd because this seems like a fairly common name

Freyen - No idea.

Zanger - Dutch for Singer. I've known a a lot of Jewish Singers.

There are more. If anyone is interested in helping, I'll add them later.

Edel heißt noble, stein heißt stone. Noblestone. sounds funny. haha.

König heißt king. my great-grandmother´s maiden name.

Steil heißt steep

Frederic und Freyen sind nur Namen.

Zange heißt plyers

Figuring names out is fun. Post the rest and I´ll see what I can do.

EDIT: By the way, Könicker sounds like dialect. Give me some time and I´ll figure out which one. It´s going to be one that replaces hard ´g´ with ´ck´ and uses a different plural than standard for the noun.

**Psychonaut** · 09-09-2009, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by Grey

Edelmer - Pretty sure this one's Jewish. I know Edel means noble, and Edelstein is a jewish name.

The Edelmer families (variously spelled as Edelmeier, Edelmeyer and Edelmayer) of the German Coast of Acadiana (which is where I'm assuming your Edelmer is from

), all stem from one Johann Adam Edelmeier who emigrated to New France some time in the early 1700s. The book I posted elsewhere on the site (that you've seen), The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana by Professor J. Hanno Deiler, on p. 89 displays an old census record which states about him:

Johann Adam Edelmeier, of Reiheim, Palatinate. Calvinist; 50 years old. Cooper. Two boys, 10 and 14 years of age. A daughter, Maria Barbara, married Lionnois, a sailor from Lyons. Three arpents cleared. Two pigs. "A very good worker who deserves attention."
1726: Six arpents cleared
1728: Marie Christine Edelmeier baptised
1731: Five children. One negro, two cows.

Although I don't have the records on hand, I researched is family further back into the Palatinate and discovered that they were Calvinists as far back as I could go.

**Grey** · 09-09-2009, 04:45 PM

Here's the rest:

Rittiner, Werling, Faust, Rupp, Huber, Wichner, Vicknair, Sanmerine (Sounds Spanish to me, but from Germany), Schuling.

Originally Posted by Psychonaut

The Edelmer families (variously spelled as Edelmeier, Edelmeyer and Edelmayer) of the German Coast of Acadiana (which is where I'm assuming your Edelmer is from

), all stem from one Johann Adam Edelmeier who emigrated to New France some time in the early 1700s. The book I posted elsewhere on the site (that you've seen), The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana by Professor J. Hanno Deiler, on p. 89 displays an old census record which states about him:

Although I don't have the records on hand, I researched is family further back into the Palatinate and discovered that they were Calvinists as far back as I could go.

Ah, I didn't even think to check it. Good to know. I was getting pretty suspicious about that one. I've known a few Jewish Edelsteins.

Originally Posted by Hrolf Kraki

Edel heißt noble, stein heißt stone. Noblestone. sounds funny. haha.

König heißt king. my great-grandmother´s maiden name.

Steil heißt steep

Frederic und Freyen sind nur Namen.

Zange heißt plyers

Figuring names out is fun. Post the rest and I´ll see what I can do.

EDIT: By the way, Könicker sounds like dialect. Give me some time and I´ll figure out which one. It´s going to be one that replaces hard ´g´ with ´ck´ and uses a different plural than standard for the noun.

Thanks much. Most websites even if they have the names' national origins don't have the meaning.

**The Black Prince** · 09-09-2009, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by Grey

There are quite a few names in my parents' genealogies that I can't find the meaning of. Anyone who speaks German want to help decipher them?

Edelmer - Pretty sure this one's Jewish. I know Edel means noble, and Edelstein is a jewish name.

Koenig/Koenicker - No idea.

Steilyens - No idea

Frederic - I don't know, which is odd because this seems like a fairly common name

Freyen - No idea.

Zanger - Dutch for Singer. I've known a a lot of Jewish Singers.

There are more. If anyone is interested in helping, I'll add them later.

Frederic is the English derrivate of Germanic 'Frederik': 'Frede/Fre' is peace and 'Rik' means ruler or domain/territory (f.i. Germanic Rik -> Kingdom (Eng); Konungariket (Sve); Koninkrijk (NL))

Edelstein is German for gemstone, hence the Jewish connection.

Edelmer as Psychonaut said is a German name, Edel means 'noble', but could also be noble in a sense of gentle/pretty. Mer is most likely derrived from meyer/meier. This is Germanic for the Latin term Maior, In Latin it meant man of authority in German it meant a person who speaks for his lord, this could be for a king, a baron, a wealthy farmer or other bussiness, it could also be the courtmaster or a tennant farmer.

German (König) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German kunic, German König ‘king’, hence a German nickname for a servant or retainer of a king (for example, a farmer on a royal demesne); or alternatively a status name for the head of a craftmen’s guild, or a society of sharpshooters or minstrels. As a Jewish surname, it was ornamental, one of several such Ashkenazic names based on European titles of nobility or royalty.

source: http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Koenig-name-meaning.ashx

Freyen is derrived from Germanic Freier/Freyer, in High-German it is Vrier. The meaning is a man that is free. That is free in a sense of free of duties, in the Late Germanic hierarchy two classes are noted as being free the Carl/Ceorl/Karl (normal free men) and the Yarl/Earl/Jarl/Eal (Nobles).

**Amapola** · 09-09-2009, 07:00 PM

Is Faust derived from the latin FAUSTUS? meaning -"the one who is prosperous and abundant".

The Black prince already answered very well, but I can add and qualify that Fridureiks means "prince of peace". Fridu --> peace and reiks---> prince. It's no wonder that not only Germanic kings and emperors have been so fond of it.

**Electronic God-Man** · 09-09-2009, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by Alana

Is Faust derived from the latin FAUSTUS? meaning -"the one who is prosperous and abundant".

Faust means "fist" in Hochdeutsch.

**hereward** · 01-23-2010, 03:38 AM

Most jews carry european surnames (williams, zimmermann) or made up european surnames (goldsmith, greenberg etc) usually from the translation of a european surname when migrating (schmidt to smith etc). Off the top of my head, excluding israeli (hebrew) names, I can only think of cohen and levi as jewish names in regards to the British isles.