Weiner
A surname of several possible origins, most often linked to German/Jewish naming from the word for “wine” or to the German place-name element Wien (“Vienna”).
The #2,546 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 21,730 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname can arise from more than one Germanic source. In many cases it is connected with German wine vocabulary or with place-based names built on Wien, the German name for Vienna; in Yiddish and Ashkenazic Jewish usage it may reflect adoption of a German-style surname in Central and Eastern Europe. Because the historical forms overlap closely with Wiener, Weinert, and related names, the exact sense can vary by family line.
History
The name is common among German-speaking and Ashkenazic Jewish families, and in English-language records it often appears in immigration-era listings alongside other Jewish surnames. Historical reference works also group Weiner with related forms such as Wiener and Weinert, showing how fluid spelling and pronunciation were in older records. In the United States, the surname is best known through multiple independent family lines rather than one single origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname indexes sometimes file Weiner right next to Weinberg, Weinstock, and Weinman, reflecting how often German surname forms were grouped by their first syllable rather than by a single fixed spelling.
From the historical record
“found, such as " Cohen," " Levi," " Aaron," and the Indexes are now showing the result of the recent migration to this country of Jews from Russia in such names as " Rabinovitch," " Weiner,'' " Matufsky,'' " Hesselberg," "Stuppel," " Rossin," '' Winstock," " Greenberg," " Maisell," " Statzumsky,'' " Coplau," "…”
— Varieties and Synonymes of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland