German Crests
Aachen/Achen Aachen/Aix-la-Chapelle (German city)
Abend/Abendroth evening/dusk
Abt abbott
Ackerman(n) farmer
Adler eagle
Amsel blackbird
B
Bach brook
Bachmeier farmer by the brook
Bader/Baader bath, spa keeper
Baecker/Becker baker
Baer/Bar bear
Barth beard
Bauer farmer, peasant
Baum tree
Bayer/Beyer Bavarian
Beckenbauer basin/bowl maker
Beich/Beike slope (OHG)
Berg mountain
Bergmann miner
Bieber beaver (industrious)
Biermann beer man (brewer)
Blau blue
Boehm/Bohm of Bohemia
Brandt fire, land cleared by fire
Brauer brewer
Braun brown
Bürger/Burger townsman, citizen
Busch/Bosch bush
Canning (origin: Saxon.)
Caroline (origin: Ger.)
Channing (origin: Saxon.)
Charles (origin: Ger.)
Charles (origin: Ger.)
Claget (origin: Ger.)
Clough (origin: Anglo-Saxon. Local)
Clowes (origin: Anglo-Saxon. Local)
Cutting (origin: Saxon.)
Cuyler (origin: Ger.)
Denton;Dinton (origin: Sax. Local)
Dering (origin: Saxon.)
Diefendorf (origin: Ger. Local)
Dillingham (origin: Saxon. Local)
Dixie (origin: Sax. Local)
Dodd;Dod (origin: Ger.)
Dunstan (origin: Sax.)
Dunstan (origin: Sax.)
Earhart
Eshelman
Everhart
Fair
Farmer, Bowers
Fate
Focht
Fogel, Fogle
Fox
Frailey, Fraley
Frederick
Free
Fry
Fulmer
Gairing, Gehrig
Cering
Gardner
Gase
Good, Goode
Kellerman - worker / dweller in a wine cellar / tavern dweller
Kessler - coppersmith or one who sold or made kettles/pots
Kramer - merchant/retailer
Krieg, Krieger - war, warrior, in Yiddish could mean tavern keeper or barkeep
Kuster (Kuester) - sexton
Kunstler - artist / artisan
Bauer (farmer) Bower
Ku(e)per (cask maker) Cooper
Klein (small) Cline/Kline
Kaufmann (merchant) Coffman
Fleischer/Metzger Butcher
Färber Dyer
Huber (manager of a feudal estate) Hoover
Kappel Chapel
Koch Cook
Meier/Meyer (dairy farmer) Mayer
Schuhmacher, Schuster Shoemaker, Shuster
Schultheiss/Schultz (mayor; orig. debt broker) Shul(t)z
Zimmermann Carpenter
Source: Americans and Germans: A Handy Reader by Wolfgang Glaser, 1985, Verlag Moos & Partner, Munich
Lang long
Lehmann/Lemann serf, fief man
Lehrer teacher
Loewe/Lowe lion
Luft air
M
Mahler/Mehler grinder, miller
Mauer wall
Maurer mason
Meister master
Metzger butcher
Meier/Meyer dairy farmer; landowner
Mueller/Muller miller
Moench/Muench monk
N
Nacht night
Nadel needle
Nagel nail
Naumann/Neumann new man
Neudorf/Neustadt new town (Newton)
Nussbaum nut tree
O
Oster east, Easter
Osterhagen east grove, hedge
Ostermann eastern man
P
Pabst/Papst pope
Pfaff cleric, parson
Pfeffer pepper
Pfeifer/Pfeiffer piper
Probst/Propst provost
R
Reinhard(t) determined
Richter judge
Ritter knight
Roth red
Rothschild red shield
Rothstein red stone
S
Saenger/Sanger singer
Sankt saint
Scherer shearer, barber
Schiffer boatman
Schmidt/Schmitt smith
Schneider tailor
Schreiber scribe, scribner, writer
Schreiner joiner, cabinet maker
Schroeder dray man
Schuhmacher shoemaker
Schultheiss/Schultz debt broker; mayor
S(c)huster cobbler, shoemaker
Schwab Swabian
Schwar(t)z black
Schweitzer Swiss; dairy man
Seiler roper
Sommer summer
Strauss bouquet
T
Thalberg valley (and) mountain
Theiss/Theissen form of Matthias
Traugott trust in God
Trommler drummer
U
Unger Hungarian
Urner of Uri (Swiss canton)
V
Vogel bird
Vogler fowler, bird man
Vogt steward
von of (indicates nobility)
W
Waechter warden, watchman
Wagner wagoner, wainwright
Wannemaker basket maker
Weber weaver
Wechsler/Wexler money changer
Weiss white/wheat
Weissmuller wheat miller
Winkel corner, angle
Wirth/Wirtz innkeeper, landlord
Wolf/Wulf wolf
Wurfel/Werfel die, cube
Z
Ziegler brick or tilemaker
Zimmermann carpenter
Zweig twig, branch
Source: Americans and Germans: A Handy Reader by Wolfgang
Glaser, 1985, Verlag Moos & Partner, Munich