Continental Germanic
German family heritage
The German-speaking peoples of the continent, and, in time, Dutch and the rest of the West Germanic branch.
Clan Rising is the living atlas of European family heritage, built one people at a time. German heritage is now on the map, the meaning of your surname, the homeland it came from, and the stories that travelled with it into the diaspora.
On the map
Where German heritage sits in Europe
Toggle the borders. In 1880 the German lands ran east to Königsberg and Breslau; slide to today and the eastern regions, East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, grey out, now in Poland, Russia and Czechia. The names that came from them are still German, and still file here.
Hover a region; toggle the borders to watch the German east shift.
German names already in the atlas
- SchmidtThe forge surname of the German lands, Smith's cousin by meaning, not by blood.Schmidt surname meaning & origin →
- MüllerThe miller, and the mill was the village's first machine.Müller surname meaning & origin →
- SchneiderThe cutter of cloth, the needle that helped clothe a continent.Schneider surname meaning & origin →
- FischerThe fisherman, the name maps the German waters.Fischer surname meaning & origin →
- WeberThe weaver, from the loom-towns that clothed Europe.Weber surname meaning & origin →
- MeyerThe steward of the manor, and, in another branch, a name that shines.Meyer surname meaning & origin →
- WagnerThe wagon-maker, the trade that built the wagons that won the West.Wagner surname meaning & origin →
- BeckerThe baker, and bread was the one thing no town could do without.Becker surname meaning & origin →
- HoffmannThe man of the farmstead, a holding of one's own.Hoffmann surname meaning & origin →
- SchulzThe village headman, small-town authority, eastern roots.Schulz surname meaning & origin →
- KochThe cook, the kitchen of the great house.Koch surname meaning & origin →
- BauerThe farmer, and the German farmer was a name to court.Bauer surname meaning & origin →
- RichterThe judge, local justice, eastern roots.Richter surname meaning & origin →
- Klein'The small one', a plain word that became a great Jewish name.Klein surname meaning & origin →
- WolfThe wolf, a Germanic name-word with a Hebrew twin.Wolf surname meaning & origin →
- SchröderThe northern tailor, the cutter of the Low German plain.Schröder surname meaning & origin →
- Neumann'The new man', the stranger who stayed.Neumann surname meaning & origin →
- Schwarz'The dark one', the German Black, and a great Jewish name.Schwarz surname meaning & origin →
- ZimmermannThe timber-man, the trade that framed the New World.Zimmermann surname meaning & origin →
- Braun'The brown one', the German Brown, arrived at separately.Braun surname meaning & origin →
- KrügerThe innkeeper, keeper of the village's one warm room.Krüger surname meaning & origin →
- Hartmann'The strong man', an old knightly given name.Hartmann surname meaning & origin →
- Lange'The tall one', the German Long.Lange surname meaning & origin →
- Werner'The defending warrior', a name from the age of knights.Werner surname meaning & origin →
- Krause'The curly-haired one'.Krause surname meaning & origin →
- LehmannThe liegeman, and one of the great names of the diaspora.Lehmann surname meaning & origin →
- König'The king', the man who won the shooting-match.König surname meaning & origin →
- Kaiser'The emperor', Caesar's name worn as a nickname.Kaiser surname meaning & origin →
- HuberThe full-holding farmer, and proof the German tree runs past the German state.Huber surname meaning & origin →
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