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Re: Anyone know of the surname Hartridge?
Well there is an English surname, Hartridge, which I assume you refer to when you mention two separate families. That name is likely to be from a place name, and one source informs that there is a Hartridge in Devon.
As for a German version, I can only suggest you track the name back through the records to try to identify the original.Hart is a not uncommon component of German and Germanic nomenclature, e.g., Hartmann. I did try googling a German translation of Hartridge (Hirschruecken) and got recipes for saddle of venison!
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When a Polish ancestor of mine moved to the UK, he anglicized his surname (in order to integrate more easily into 19th century Britain) to a surname completely different to his previous one. Could this have been what the German Hartridges did.
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Could be, and that would make it impossible to discover the original name without some written record or family memory. I still think that this name probably began with Hart- which could be English or German.
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