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Help[Surname] Surname Lyerla
I'm having problems finding the country of origin of the last name Lyerla, also Lyerly, Liely. Was told by a family member it might be German. Any Ideas?
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Ancestry.com has the origin and history as scot and English, Germanic, Norwegian (probably Viking raids over the years, and indigenous people of Northern America, Canada. My family migrated from the British isles to the Carolinas and ended up in southern Illinois, and eventually to California where I currently reside. My oldest uncle always referred to the name as Lyerly whereas other siblings pronounced and spelled the name Lyerla.
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My mother's surname is Lyerla and she always said all Lyerla's are related. Her family came from Lake Constance Germany near the Swiss border. They came to America in 1695 or 1705. They eventually settled in the southeast then after their decendants served in the Revolutionary War they came to southern Illinois. There are still Lyerla's in Union, Jackson and Williamson counties Illinois.
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It was later than the dates you mentioned since your first ancestor to come to the US was Johann Christoph Leyerle who was born in 1710. He came from Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg and married Elizabeth Christina Holtzhauser in Culpeper County, VA around 1755. The surname was altered to Lyerla in the mid 1800s.
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It might be from the German surname Leierle (not common), which is probably a variant of another surname, Leier. Leier means "lyre", and the name could be a metonymic for a player of that instrument. There are other possibilities but nothing certain to my knowledge. Andy might know more.
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