Die Deutschen Familiennamen, geschichtlich, geographisch, sprachlich

This volume offers a clear, well‑structured survey of German surnames, tracing their origins from ancient personal names through medieval formations to the patterns that still shape today’s family names. Drawing on the pioneering research of scholars such as Förstemann, Pott and Abel, the author groups names into three historical layers and explains the linguistic elements that bind them. The first part reads like a concise narrative of how these names evolved, giving listeners a sense of the cultural forces that forged them.

The second part turns to a richly compiled lexicon, presenting the most significant name‑building components alongside illustrative examples. Unique to this work is its geographic focus: the author mined 19th‑century military loss lists to map the regional spread of thousands of surnames across the German-speaking lands. Listeners will come away with a deeper appreciation of how history, geography and language intertwine in the everyday words that identify families.