Goudhaire or Gouthaire
I am looking for information as to ethnicity of this name. Leonard or Leonhard Goudhaire appeared near Cologne in 1690's (died 1724) and built Schoss Bensberg for Jan Willem Kurfuerst von dem Pfalz. He married Catharina Becker in 1703 and remained near Bensberg building Haus Steinbrecke for himself. He had a daughter, Anna Maria, and 3 sons: Wilhelm, Joannes Petrus, Johann Heinrich. The last name in baptismal and marriage records was mispelled Gutherr, Goidthair, Goidthaire, Goithaire, Guthaire, Gudhaire, Guthair, Gouthar. I suspect it may originate in what is now Belgium.
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AddendumThe sons and descendants of Leonard Goudhaire had the last name morph to Gutherr. I have found a somewhat similar name in Flanders, Belgium "Comhaire". One website claimed he directed the work of Walloon stonemasons when building the palace.
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I did a google and was surprised to find a 19th century (?) instance of the name, here-
http://www.bergischer-kalender.de/baende.aspx?id=G
Though I can't learn anything from the context, having no German.
I was working on the assumption that it was a German attempt at a non-German surname. I was going to suggest the French Goutiere, which could be occupational and connected to the building trade, or Dutch Goedheer/Goetheer, which might be a description or a nickname. Gutherr would be a translation of Goedheer.
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Non Germanic NameIn looking at the Mormon databases the children of Leonard began having their name spelled Gutherr. A Gutherr was originally used in the context of being the Lord of the manor and probably a nobleman. Leonard was not a noble although he did own the Manor Steinbreche and a small water castle.
The person you cite dying in 1821 was the a 4th generation descendant of Leonard and the name in the Mormon database is cited as Gutherr. Evidently, in the Bergisch-Gladbach records people knew the original spelling. In French one can find a reference to Gouthaire in relation to Lothaire (Lothar, a descendant of Charlemagne and King of Italy). Perhaps, the name derives from the name of the old king. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothair_I
http://books.google.com/books?id=-xwtAAAAMAAJ&dq=gouthaire&ots=kDjz3c7w-S&jtp=195
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Lothaire is Germanic, a compound of the words for "people" and "army". Could Goedhaire be Germanic, a compound of "good" and "army", which is the origin of the Spanish name Gutierre, whence the surname Gutierrez.
So a possible Germanic male given name filtered through the French, or Walloon. But I've yet to find a modern French surname that could be the source of this name.
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Thank you.
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