Holstein
A surname taken from the German region of Holstein, originally identifying someone who came from there.
The #8,091 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 75,341 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Holstein is a habitational surname from Holstein, the historical region in northern Germany between Schleswig and the Elbe. The name was used for people who had moved away from that area, essentially meaning “from Holstein.” The place-name itself is ancient and is generally linked to Old Saxon or Low German forms referring to the Holsati, the people of the district, though the surname sense is simply geographic.
History
19th-century surname dictionaries gloss Holstein straightforwardly as a regional name, and English-language bearers were often connected with migration from northern Germany or Denmark. Because Holstein sat in a borderland between German and Danish influence, the surname may appear in both German and Scandinavian records. It is not one of the most common surnames, but it is well established as a toponymic family name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books sometimes note Holstein alongside other locational names from the same north German border region, reflecting how mobile surnames were in port and trading communities.
From the historical record
“CIBBER. Cains Gabriel Clbber, the fatlier of Colley Gibber the dramatist, was a native of Flensburg in Holstein, and set- tled in London a short time before the res- toration of the Stuarts. ClTIZEISr. A member of the common- wealth. The French have the same family”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom