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Help[Surname] Heggemann
Hi, I am looking up the meaning of my fiance's last name before we get married. I am involved in the first names board, but never this one.
His last name is Heggemann [Heeg-ah-men] and the background is supposedly German. The only similarities I can find are:
Heijmann: from Henrick, from Henry = home ruler. The 'j' is pronounced as a 'y', unlike in Heggemann, but many German last names were manipulated to sound more English but settlers, so maybe this is a possibility.
Hege (from Helga-->Helge=holy/blessed) + mann=man: Seems unlikely because Hege was only a pet form of Helga, Helga was a female name and the 'l' is dropped. Although the root translation would be 'holy man', since it would have been from the female name, it would more likely be 'Helga's man' which seems unlikely for the times to give such importance to a woman.
Would immagration time and place of Germany help? Thanks for any leads.
His last name is Heggemann [Heeg-ah-men] and the background is supposedly German. The only similarities I can find are:
Heijmann: from Henrick, from Henry = home ruler. The 'j' is pronounced as a 'y', unlike in Heggemann, but many German last names were manipulated to sound more English but settlers, so maybe this is a possibility.
Hege (from Helga-->Helge=holy/blessed) + mann=man: Seems unlikely because Hege was only a pet form of Helga, Helga was a female name and the 'l' is dropped. Although the root translation would be 'holy man', since it would have been from the female name, it would more likely be 'Helga's man' which seems unlikely for the times to give such importance to a woman.
Would immagration time and place of Germany help? Thanks for any leads.
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Replies
I suspect that the original name was HEGEMANN. One of you ancestors may have added the second G to preserve the pronunciation (obivously withh little success). But I have nothing to back this up.
If this is true, there are at least two interpretations of the name:
HEGEMANN
1. Habitional name for someone living in or near a place called Heeg or Hege (there a various places by that name in Germany)
1. A Westphalian topographic name for someone who lived in an enclosed (i.e. fenced) area, Middle High German hagen + man ‘man’. Or for someone who lived by a hedge or by the boundary of an enclosure.
There is also the name HEGEMAN, and here I find the double G again:
Dutch: habitational name for someone from a place called Hegge(n) or ter Hegge(n), derived from a word meaning ‘hedge’.
This is taken from:
Rosa und Volker Kohlheim, Familiennamen, Mannheim 2000
P.H.Reany, A Dictionary of English Surnames, Oxford 1997
If this is true, there are at least two interpretations of the name:
HEGEMANN
1. Habitional name for someone living in or near a place called Heeg or Hege (there a various places by that name in Germany)
1. A Westphalian topographic name for someone who lived in an enclosed (i.e. fenced) area, Middle High German hagen + man ‘man’. Or for someone who lived by a hedge or by the boundary of an enclosure.
There is also the name HEGEMAN, and here I find the double G again:
Dutch: habitational name for someone from a place called Hegge(n) or ter Hegge(n), derived from a word meaning ‘hedge’.
This is taken from:
Rosa und Volker Kohlheim, Familiennamen, Mannheim 2000
P.H.Reany, A Dictionary of English Surnames, Oxford 1997
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By the way, if my theory is right, your name would be the same as HAGMAN (like Larry Hagman).
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Awesome, thanks Andy! I always like to tease my boyfriend that his last name means 'man of the hedges' it sounds so creepy ^_^
He may take my last name though, we just don't know. Hopefully Mike C can add this one,
~ Silver
He may take my last name though, we just don't know. Hopefully Mike C can add this one,
~ Silver
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