Meier
A common German surname meaning a steward, farm manager, or village official.
The #1,391 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,114 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Meier comes from German meier, a term for a steward, bailiff, tenant farmer, or farm administrator. The word is ultimately linked to Late Latin major, meaning “greater” or “chief,” and in medieval usage came to denote an overseer of an estate. In older scholarship it is also connected with the idea of a chief household servant or manager.
History
This is one of the most common German surnames and appears in many spellings, including Meyer and Maier. Historical writers often grouped it with other major occupational surnames because it was so widely used and produced many compounds and derivative forms. It spread widely across German-speaking regions and into countries influenced by German migration and spelling adaptation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th- and early-20th-century surname writers often described Meier as one of the “great” German surname families because it generated so many compound names.
From the historical record
“( Ger.-Lat. ) an Auglicization of the German Meyer = Steward [Ger. meier, O.H.Ger. »»ew>-, steward; Lat. mo/or] MYERS, Myer's (Son) : v. Myer.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)