Müller
A German surname meaning “miller,” originally given to someone who worked at a grain mill.
The #523 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 4,810 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Mueller is an Anglicized spelling of German Müller, “miller.” The name goes back to Middle High German and Old High German forms for a miller, ultimately related to Latin molinarius, meaning “of a mill” or “miller.” It began as an occupational surname for someone who ground grain or worked at a mill.
History
Müller is one of the most common surnames in the German-speaking world. In English-language records, Mueller often appears as a spelling that preserves the German umlaut in simplified form, especially among immigrants and their descendants. In the United States it is a long-established surname and often corresponds to the more common spelling Miller in older record systems or in Anglicized branches.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older American records, Mueller and Miller can sometimes be alternate spellings for the same immigrant family name, depending on how clerks rendered the umlaut.
From the historical record
“+ fiori, ploijiore, flower; Lat. flos, Jloris] MUELLER 1 (Ger.) Miller [M.H.Ger. miil- MULLER I ner, O.H^Ger. mulindri; Lat. molinarius] MUNTZ (Fris.) Monk [Fris. miints, a monk] MUNZER (Ger.) Minter, Coiner [f. Ger. munze, coin, money; Lat. moneta] NAUMANN (Ger.) a form of Neumann, q.v.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)