Bushman History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Germany

The bountiful region surrounding the Rhine river is the birthplace of the name Bushman. A single name was, at one time, all that people needed. However, increasing ease of travel and the burgeoning populations forced people to adopt a hereditary surname to set themselves apart from others. A common form of surname created in the Rhineland was the local name. Originally denoting the proprietorship of the village or estate, the German preposition von, which means from or of, was used with local names. The surname Bushman was given to someone who lived at or near an area known for a growth of bushes. Bushman is a topographic surname, a type of name given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties.

Early Origins of the Bushman family

The surname Bushman was first found in the Rhineland, where this family became a prominent contributor to the development of the district from ancient times.

Early History of the Bushman family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bushman research. Another 83 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bushman History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bushman Spelling Variations

In the medieval era, many different cultural groups lived in the German states. There are thus many regional variations of German surnames from that era. Westphalians spoke Low German, which is similar to modern Dutch. Many German names carry suffixes that identify where they came from. Others have phrases attached that identify something about the original bearer. Other variations in German names resulted from the fact that medieval scribes worked without the aid of any spelling rules. The spelling variations of the name Bushman include Buschmann, Buschman, Buschmanne, Buschmane, Bushmann, Bushman, Boschman, Boschmann, Boschmanne, Boschmane, Boshman, Boshmann, Bueschmann, Bueschman, Bueschmanne, Bueshman, Bueshmann and many more.

Early Notables of the Bushman family

More information is included under the topic Early Bushman Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bushman Ranking

In the United States, the name Bushman is the 7,222^nd most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 1

Bushman migration to the United States +

The great European flow of migration to North America, which began in the middle of the 17th century and continued into the 20th century, was particularly attractive to those from the Rhineland who wished to escape either poverty or religious persecution. Many of those who left the Rhineland to seek their fortunes in the prosperous and free New World settled in the major urban centers of the United States and Canada. In the United States, the settlers from the Rhineland passed through immigration centers like that of Ellis Island, most of them moving on to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, California, and New York. In Canada, the majority of Rhinelanders settled in Ontario and the prairie provinces. An examination of passenger and immigration lists has revealed many important settlers to North America bearing the name Bushman, or one of its variants above:

Bushman Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

D. Bushman, who was recorded as having landed at San Francisco in 1856
D Bushman, who arrived in San Francisco, California in 1856 2
Bertha Bushman, aged 4, who settled in America from Kerstin, in 1893
Franz Bushman, aged 30, who immigrated to the United States from Kerstin, in 1893
Marie Bushman, aged 2, who landed in America from Kerstin, in 1893
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Bushman Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Herman Bushman, aged 16, who immigrated to the United States from Prussia, in 1902
Gottlieb Bushman, who settled in America, in 1903
Louise Bushman, aged 47, who landed in America, in 1904
Srul Bushman, aged 45, who landed in America from Odessa, Russia, in 1909
Erasmus Bushman, aged 11, who landed in America from Riga, Russia, in 1912
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Bushman migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Bushman Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

R Bushman, who landed in Victoria, British Columbia in 1862

Contemporary Notables of the name Bushman (post 1700) +

Ralph Everly Bushman (1903-1978), American actor who appeared in fifty-five films
Francis Xavier Bushman (1883-1966), American actor, film director, and screenwriter
Richard Lyman Bushman (b. 1931), American historian and Gouverneur Morris Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University
Ralph H. Bushman, American Democratic Party politician, Postmaster at Cleveland, Ohio, 1961 (acting, 1961) 3

Citations +

"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 12) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html