indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Type Surname (from location)
Usage History
Meaning & History
Means "black earth", derived from Greek μελανός (melanos), the genitive of the adjective μέλας (melas) meaning "black, dark", and χθών (chthon) meaning "land, earth, soil". A famous bearer was Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560), a Protestant leader and associate of Martin Luther, in whose case this surname was a Greek translation of his original German surname Schwartzerdt of the same meaning (i.e. "black earth" in German).