German Last Names

I was going through ff nation and so many ff have German last names and probably don't know it. I went through 52 pages out of 840 pages and found the following names:

Kieffer, Kurzdorfer, Messer, Wurzel, Bier, Sauerbier, Stumpf, Rosenberger, Schutz, Schultz, Schwartz, Schneider, Schmidt, Albrecht, Wagner, Bauer, Stahl, Dreher, Rickenbach, Brandt, Ziegler, Rieger, Keller, Hartman, Hess, Scharnhorst

Some of the names have a meaning such as a thing, for example, Messser = knife.

Here's a great German to English or vice versa dictionary:
http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/

I'd like to hear anyone's take on this. I read on the internet that Germans make up the largest immigrant group in the US. Just a few states such as PA and TX have lots of German towns.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Capkurt on April 18, 2008 at 8:50pm

You missed me. Weyers

Permalink Reply by Horst on April 30, 2008 at 11:14pm

Actually Germans have immigrated throughout history; the colonial times, Revolutionary War, then Civil War, and so on. Immigration was not just limited to the WWI or WWII because of the Nazis. There were multiple reasons throughout history as to why the Germans immigrated to America: dictatorship in the 1700s and 1800s and also because the lack of religious freedom.

Permalink Reply by John Waltenbaugh on June 2, 2008 at 12:07am

Last name is Waltenbaugh bastardised by the English it used to be Walkenbach family has been here since the 1680's and it is still all German , still mostly within the same twenty five miles of where they settles in teh 1790's. Anyway there is a German American Firefighters ASsoc. butit doesnt look like they do much we need something out there to represent us , maybe a little sticker of a dude in lederhousen and beer mugs for our helemets

Permalink Reply by Horst on June 2, 2008 at 11:18am

The sticker sounds like a good idea, but not with lederhosen because many Germans do not come from Bavaria. Many other Germans come from different states (16 states in Germany). For example, Germans in Berlin do not wear lederhosen. Putting a beer mug on the helmet wouldn't be appropriate. But I agree, we need something that unifies all of us Germans together.

Permalink Reply by Horst on June 2, 2008 at 11:20am

Everybody bring up your ideas about the stickers...or if you have any information, let me know.

Permalink Reply by John Waltenbaugh on June 2, 2008 at 11:20pm

I did see a German flag maltese cross on a website , I think it was firedecals.com if not it is the one that you can get to from firefighterclosecalls.com. I agree with what ya say about the little dude but try thinking of something that would represent us Germasn as a whole, I guess we go with the flag, By the way , My family is from the North Rhine Westphalia areanear the town of Eitorf on the border with Rhineland Palatinate

Permalink Reply by Horst on June 3, 2008 at 4:43pm

Ihave the German maltese cross on my helmet already. I noticed that several of those ff sites don't sell it anymore. I was told that there wasn't a demand for the stickers. Perhaps we can all come up with some really good idea. Maybe you could start a discussion about stickers, patches, shirts or whatever would help up recognize German ff in the US. I think your idea is great!

Permalink Reply by Ashley on June 4, 2008 at 7:40pm

My family also immigrated from the Rhineland, but I don't know the exact town etc. I just know it was the Rhineland. The English also slightly butchered the last name...in Germany it was Beyer and in the states it Boyer. The one side of the family immigrated sometime before the civil war because he was one of the generals according to the books. Then the other side of the family came sometime during the Weimar Republic.

As far as identification on my helmet...I just have the German flag on the side. My capt. asked me what it was the one day and I was like the German flag...I happen to be German heritage.

Permalink Reply by Ashley on June 4, 2008 at 7:47pm

Yes, you are correct about the many towns being named after German towns and cities. I'm orginally from Pa and lived in that area heavily populated with Pa-Dutch and German hertiage. For instance, Germantown, New Berlin, Krazerville, Freeburg, Boyertown (where my connections are spawned from), there's many more but those are just the one's I can think of off the top of my head. The food is still very much alive and authentic to Germany despite many generations.

Permalink Reply by EYFD5917 on June 6, 2008 at 10:53am

As a German-American Firefighter/EMT (Meister,shortened from Meisterknecht at Ellis Island), I wear a German flag on my helmet.All of our department members know where the flag is from. I am very proud of my heritage and I believe that it's a great idea to develop an "icon" to display for those who wish to show there pride.
let's all stay safe out there!

Permalink Reply by Inge on June 6, 2008 at 6:37pm