roehm
I would like to know if this name is origianlly German or French. It is the maiden name of my husband's mother, and she told me it is French. But I have read about the Roehm massacre, a man named Roehm was the leader of Hitler's Brownshirts and Hitler had him and his followers killed.

Does this mean it is a German name? Was the spelling maybe changed from Rohm, with that little double dot symbol over the o, and to convert it to English an e was added? The name is currently pronounced Ree-um, not rome, in his family.
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Replies

Hi Linda,

Röhm / Roehm is a German surname deriving from Old German first names starting with Hruom- like Hruomwald (newer: Rumold) meaning fame, glory + ruler.

Regards, Satu
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