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.
- MüllerThe miller — and the mill was the village's first machine.
- SchneiderThe cutter of cloth — the needle that helped clothe a continent.
- FischerThe fisherman — the name maps the German waters.
- WeberThe weaver — from the loom-towns that clothed Europe.
- MeyerThe steward of the manor — and, in another branch, a name that shines.
- WagnerThe wagon-maker — the trade that built the wagons that won the West.
- BeckerThe baker — and bread was the one thing no town could do without.
- HoffmannThe man of the farmstead — a holding of one's own.
- SchulzThe village headman — small-town authority, eastern roots.
- KochThe cook — the kitchen of the great house.
- BauerThe farmer — and the German farmer was a name to court.
- RichterThe judge — local justice, eastern roots.
- Klein'The small one' — a plain word that became a great Jewish name.
- WolfThe wolf — a Germanic name-word with a Hebrew twin.
- SchröderThe northern tailor — the cutter of the Low German plain.
- Neumann'The new man' — the stranger who stayed.
- Schwarz'The dark one' — the German Black, and a great Jewish name.
- ZimmermannThe timber-man — the trade that framed the New World.
- Braun'The brown one' — the German Brown, arrived at separately.
- KrügerThe innkeeper — keeper of the village's one warm room.
- Hartmann'The strong man' — an old knightly given name.
- Lange'The tall one' — the German Long.
- Werner'The defending warrior' — a name from the age of knights.
- Krause'The curly-haired one'.
- LehmannThe liegeman — and one of the great names of the diaspora.
- König'The king' — the man who won the shooting-match.
- Kaiser'The emperor' — Caesar's name worn as a nickname.
- HuberThe full-holding farmer — and proof the German tree runs past the German state.
Explore With Your Ancestors · Beta
Pick your name, pick any year from 500 to 1945, and land anywhere on earth — the old country, or the road out of it. The chronicler sets the scene; the deeds are yours.