The most common German surnames

German surnames are common all over the world. Almost everyone has friends with the names from this list.

You can check and learn their meaning, because all the names come from the name of the profession, physiological features (size, hair color …), from names, social status or geographical objects. Here are the most popular ones:

Schiller (Schiller) – student (from the word Schüler);
Müller (Müller) – miller;
Schmidt (Schmidt) – blacksmith;
Schulz (Schulz) – Warden;
Hofmann, Hoffmann (Hoffmann) – the court;
Köhler (Köhler) – a coal miner;
Wagner (Wagner) – carriage master, cartwright;
Weber (Weber) – weaver;
Schneider (Schneider) – tailor;
Fisher (Fischer) – fisherman;
Meier (Meier) – managing the property;
Becker (Becker) – the baker;
Schaefer (Schäfer) – shepherd-sheepdog;
Koch (Koch) – cook;
Bauer (Bauer) – the peasant;
Richter (Richter) – Judge;
Klein (Klein) – small;
Wolf (Wolf) – wolf;
Kruger (Krüger) – potter;
Lehmann (landowner);
Hermann (Hermann) – from the male name Herrmann;
Schröder (Schröder) – tailor;
Neumann (Neumann) – a new man;
Schwarz (Schwarz) – black (according to hair color, not skin or eyes);
Zimmermann (Zimmermann) – the carpenter;
Brown (Braun) – brown;
Lange (Lange) – long / high;
Krause (Krause) – curly

Interesting to know!

All Germans giggle when they hear this name. Kevin is a popular anecdote hero who constantly shows his stupidity.

And here is the answer. The Germans say that Kevin is not a name, but a diagnosis. At some point, people from the “lower class” picked up the fashion for British / American names and the most popular of them was Kevin.