Germany
A surname that usually points to an ancestor identified as German or from Germany.
The #8,606 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 80,718 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally understood as an ethnic or regional name for someone from Germany, or more broadly a German-speaking person. It reflects the medieval habit of turning place or people names into family names by simple description. The underlying word is the place-name Germany, ultimately from Latin and earlier continental forms for the German lands and people.
History
As a surname, Germany is uncommon and appears to have been used chiefly in English-speaking records as a descriptive byname rather than as a long-established hereditary surname. In some cases, surnames of this sort could also arise from migration, especially when a newcomer was identified by place of origin. The historical excerpts supplied discuss related forms such as Almain/Alemain and other nationality-based names, but do not give a direct dictionary entry for Germany itself.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Surname forms based on national identity were common in medieval Europe, because a newcomer was often labeled simply by where they came from.
From the historical record
“suffixes. The common Danish cognate, -sen (for son or seen), of our -son termination is not confined to Denmark; it occurs in parts of- North Germany (for Low Ger. son) and Holland (for zoon, usually, however, suffixed as -zon). One famous Danish -sen name, Thorwaldsen, recalls the part which the great sculptor…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)