by Andy ;—) (guest)
7/10/2006, 5:29 AM
The surname exists in Germany, but it is very rare. In the German phone directory I found (in all of Germany)
TREITLER: 35
TREIDLER: 41
I can't find it in any of my books, but TREITLER may be a variant of TREIDLER, an old word for "Trödler" (with an O umlaut) which is either a "second-hand dealer" or a "dawdler". Both meanings are good for a surname, I think.
There might also be a connection with "treten" (tread), which could also be used for "dancing", but this is rather uncertain.