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| Origins Available: |
| | Germany |
The ancestral home of the Demeyer family is in the German state of Bavaria. The name Demeyer is an occupational hereditary surname, a type of surname that was taken from a word describing or common to the profession of the original bearer. It is a name for a mayor, or elected head of the community. The name stems from the German word "meier," meaning mayor.
The surname Demeyer was first found in southern Germany, where the family was anciently seated. The name referred at first to the representative of the lord of a manor, and later to the administrator or tenant of a small court.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Demeyer research. Another 287 words (20 lines of text) covering the years 1363, 1400, 1618, 1643, 1646, 1650, 1653, 1689, 1712, 1713, 1725, 1760, 1763, 1786, 1825, 1832, 1845, 1847, 1849, 1857, 1870 and 1898 are included under the topic Early Demeyer 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 Demeyer include Mayer, Maier, Meyer, Meier, Mayr, Meyr, Myer and many more.
Prominent among members of the name Demeyer in this period include Conrad Meyer (1618-1689), a Swiss painter and engraver from Zurich; Johann Friedrich Mayer (1650-1712), a German Lutheran theologian; Rupert Ignaz Mayr (1646-1712), a German violinist, composer and Kapellmeister in Munich; Hans Heinrich Meyer (1760-1832), a Swiss painter and...
Another 49 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Demeyer Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Thousands of German settlers came to North America between the mid-17th and mid-20th centuries. The hardships of the long voyage were balanced by the opportunity to escape poverty and religious persecution. The descendents of these settlers still populate the states of Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Illinois, and California. Many also live in Ontario and the prairie provinces of Canada. An inquiry into the early roots of North American families has revealed a number of immigrants bearing the name Demeyer or a variant listed above: