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Re: Wandner
in reply to a message by A.
The name is not listed in any of my books, so all I can do is guess.WAND means "wall" in German (from "wind", because the Teutons used to wind branches around poles to build a wall; only later did they learn from the Romans how to make a brick wall, so they loaned their word: Mauer from murus in German, wall from vallum in English).-NER often indicates an occopational name (e.g. Küfner = Cooper, Gertstner = barley farmer)> So WANDNER may originally denote a builder of walls, most likely a bricklayer.-NER can also indicate a habitional name, e.g. SCHMITTNER for someone living near a smithy. As WAND can also refer to a wall of rock, this is another possible explanation of the name.XY-NER can also mean someone from XY - in this case from Wanden. A place by that name does not seem to exist, but it may have existed. The element WAND in this case may refer to the Wends or Wands, a Slavonic people in Eastern Germany.Sorry, but as you see, all I do is guess.
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Thank you very much Andy ! Your help is greatly appreciated.
I had come - more or less - to the same conclusion, it's really hard to trace the origin of such a rare surname.Thanks again !Take care,
Andria.
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Hey,My father told me that Wandner dates back to german royalty. The baroness of germany or something.
He also said that a Wandner once worked as a stable boy for augustas the strong.
I'll have to chase this up with him to get the specifics.
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