MEYER Surname Meaning and Family History

From the Middle High German word meiger, meaning higher or superior, Meyer was  a surname  often used for stewards or overseers of landholders or great farmers or leaseholders—today a Meier is a dairy farmer. Meier and Meyer are used more often in Northern Germany, while Maier and Mayer are found more frequently in Southern Germany. As an English surname, Meyer derived from the Old English  maire, or  Mayor, an officer in charge of legal matters. Meyer could also have originated as an alternate spelling of the Dutch Meier or Meijer, or as an Anglicized form of the Gaelic surname  Ãƒâ€œ Meidhir, from meidhir, \meaning mirth. Alternate Surname Spellings:  MEIER, MAYER, MAIER, MIER, MEIRSurname Origin: German, English, Dutch Where in the World Is the MEYERSurname Found? According to surname distribution data from Forebears, the Meyer surname is most common in Germany, where it is the 5th most common surname in the country. It is also among the top 100 most common surnames in Switzerland, France,  Luxembourg and South Africa. WorldNames PublicProfiler identifies the Meyer surname as being most frequent in northern Germany (Niedersachsen, Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein);  Nordwestschweiz and Zentralschweiz, Switzerland; and Alsace, France. Surname  distribution maps at  verwandt.de  show the  Meyer surname is  found in 439 cities and counties throughout Germany, most prevalently in Hamburg, followed by Region Hannover, Berlin, Bremen, Diepholz, Harburg, Rotenburg (Wà ¼mme),  Osnabrà ¼ck, Verden and Cuxhaven. Famous People With the MEYER Surname Stephenie Meyer - author of the Twilight seriesBernhard Meyer  - German physician and naturalistBertrand Meyer - French computer scientistConrad Ferdinand Meyer  - Swiss poet and writerFritz Meyer - Swiss founder of the Roamer  watch companyGeorge von Lengerke Meyer - former U.S. Secretary of the NavyHeinrich August Wilhelm Meyer  - German protestant pastor and theologianJulius Lothar Meyer - German chemist;  pioneer in developing the first periodic table of elementsLodewijk Meyer - Dutch physician, classical scholar and playwright Genealogy Resources for the Surname MEYER Meanings of Common German SurnamesUncover the meaning of your German last name with this free guide to the meanings and origins of common German surnames.Meyer  Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Meyer  family crest or coat of arms for the Meyer surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted.Meyer Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the Meyer surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Meyer surname query.FamilySearch - MEYER GenealogyExplore over 9 million  results, including digitized records, database entries, and online family trees for the Meyer surname and its variations on the FREE FamilySearch website, courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.DistantCousin.com - MEYER Geneal ogy Family HistoryExplore free databases and genealogy links for the last name Meyer.GeneaNet - Meyer  RecordsGeneaNet includes archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Meyer  surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries.The Meyer Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Meyer surname from the website of Genealogy Today. Sources and Further Reading Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967.Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998.Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003.Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989.Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003.Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997.Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.