List of the most common surnames in Germany



List of the most common surnames in Germany

Data updated to 12 February 2021.
  1. Müller, occupation
  2. Schmidt, occupation
  3. Schneider, occupation
  4. Fischer, occupation
  5. Weber, occupation
  6. Meyer, occupation
  7. Wagner, occupation
  8. Becker, occupation
  9. Schulz, occupation
  10. Hoffmann, occupation
  11. Schäfer, occupation
  12. Koch, occupation
  13. Bauer, occupation
  14. Richter, occupation
  15. Klein, trait
  16. Wolf, perhaps derived from forename or trait
  17. Schröder, occupation
  18. Neumann, trait
  19. Schwarz, trait
  20. Zimmermann, occupation
  21. Braun, trait or forename
  22. Krüger, occupation
  23. Hofmann, occupation
  24. Hartmann, forename
  25. Lange, trait
  26. Schmitt, occupation
  27. Werner, forename
  28. Schmitz, occupation
  29. Krause, trait
  30. Meier, occupation
  31. Lehmann, occupation/class
  32. Schmid, occupation
  33. Schulze, occupation
  34. Maier, occupation
  35. Köhler, occupation
  36. Herrmann, forename
  37. König, house name
  38. Walter, forename
  39. Mayer, occupation
  40. Huber, occupation
  41. Kaiser, house name
  42. Fuchs, trait
  43. Peters, forename Peter + s, which in North Germany means "son of"
  44. Lang, trait
  45. Scholz, occupation
  46. Möller, occupation
  47. Weiß, trait
  48. Jung, trait
  49. Hahn, "rooster", or possibly a condensation of Johannes
  50. Schubert, occupation, derived from Middle High German Schuochwürhte
  51. Vogel, house name
  52. Friedrich, forename composed of Old High German fridu and rîhhi
  53. Keller, occupation
  54. Günther, forename
  55. Frank, tribe
  56. Berger, house name
  57. Winkler, occupation
  58. Roth, trait
  59. Beck, occupation or house name
  60. Lorenz, forename
  61. Baumann, occupation
  62. Franke, tribe
  63. Albrecht, forename
  64. Schuster, occupation
  65. Simon, forename
  66. Ludwig, forename
  67. Böhm, nation
  68. Winter, related to winter
  69. Kraus, trait
  70. Martin, forename
  71. Schumacher, occupation
  72. Krämer, occupation
  73. Vogt, occupation
  74. Stein, house name
  75. Jäger, occupation
  76. Otto, forename
  77. Sommer, related to summer
  78. Groß, trait
  79. Seidel, perhaps derived from forename
  80. Heinrich, forename
  81. Brandt, related to fire
  82. Haas, house name
  83. Schreiber, occupation
  84. Graf, occupation
  85. Schulte, occupation
  86. Dietrich, forename composed of Old High German diot and rihhi, meaning "ruler of people"
  87. Ziegler, occupation
  88. Kuhn, perhaps derived from forename
  89. Kühn, trait
  90. Pohl, nation, "Pole" "originating from or related to Poland"
  91. Engel, forename or house name
  92. Horn, house name
  93. Busch, house name
  94. Bergmann, occupation
  95. Thomas, forename
  96. Voigt, occupation
  97. Sauer, trait
  98. Arnold, forename
  99. Wolff, perhaps derived from forename or trait
  100. ”Bender”, derived from the occupational surname Fassbender, meaning Cooper.
  101. Pfeiffer, occupation

Regional differences

Although Müller is the most common name in German-speaking countries, in some areas other surnames are more frequent than Müller. The common names Schmidt and Schmitz lead in the central German-speaking and eastern Low German-speaking areas. Meyer is particularly common in the Low German-speaking regions, especially in Lower Saxony. Bauer leads in eastern Upper German-speaking Bavaria. Rarer names tend to accumulate in the north and south. Huber is common in southern Bavaria and is, with the exception of Munich, the most frequent name in that area. Patronymic surnames such as Jansen/Janssen, Hansen, and Petersen are the most common names in the far north.

Slavic names

Due to the historical settlement of Slavs, Slavic names are most common in Saxony, Brandenburg, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. About 13% of the German population today has names of Slavic origin. Many Austrians also have surnames of Slavic origin.
Polish names in Germany abound as a result of over 100,000 people immigrating westward from the Polish-speaking areas of the German Empire. Many Polish-named Germans reside in the Ruhr region of North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin, though they are mostly "Germanized" by form.

Turkish names

The large number of Turkish immigrants to Germany accounts for the frequency of Turkish surnames.

Names of other origins

Because many Vietnamese sought asylum in West Germany or guest work in East Germany during and after the Vietnam War, and because approximately 40% of the Vietnamese population carry one particular name, the surname Nguyen is notably common in Germany.

Literature

  • Duden: Familiennamen, Herkunft und Bedeutung von 20.000 Nachnamen..
  • dtv-Atlas: Namenkunde..
  • Hans Bahlow: Deutsches Namenlexikon. München 1967,.
  • Max Gottschald: Deutsche Namenkunde. 5. Aufl., Berlin 1982,.
  • Josef Karlmann Brechenmacher: Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen..
  • Horst Naumann: Das große Buch der Familiennamen. Alter, Herkunft, Bedeutung. Augsburg 2005,.
  • Ernst Schwarz: Deutsche Namenforschung. Band 1: Ruf- und Familiennamen, Band 2: Orts- und Flurnamen, Göttingen 1950.