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The German region of the Rhineland is the ancestral home of the Breuer family. In early times, people used only one name, but later, as the population of Europe swelled and travel became easier, they began to encounter others who shared their name. To avoid this confusion hereditary surnames were adopted. The most commonly found surnames in the Rhineland are those derived from occupations. Breuer was a name for a person who made and sold ale or beer.
The surname Breuer was first found in the Rhineland and Baden, where the name could be considered to make a great early contribution to the feudal society which became the backbone of early development of Europe. The name became prominent in local affairs and branched into many houses which played important roles in the savage tribal and national conflicts, each group seeking power and status in an ever changing territorial profile.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Breuer research. Another 147 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1726, 1829, 1842, 1895 and 1925 are included under the topic Early Breuer History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 Breuer include Brauer, Braur, Brauere, Braure, Brauerre, Braeuer (Silesia and Hessen), Brauers (Rhineland), Breuer, Braeuers, Braeur, Braeurer, Breyer, Breier, Brower (East Friesland), Browers and many more.
Notables with the name Breuer during this period were
In the United States, the name Breuer is the 10,656th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1
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 Breuer, or one of its variants above: