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The ancient German region of the Rhineland was the original home of the ancestors of the Dieffenbach surname. Dieffenbach was a local name, a type of hereditary surname that identified people by the places where they lived. Landowners were the first to use local names, and they often attached the prefix "von", meaning "of" or "from," to the surname. Often, the use of "von" was a mark of aristocratic birth. Local names are by far the most common style of German hereditary surname. Dieffenbach was a name for someone who lived in the village of Tiefendorff in Bavaria. The original bearer of this name was from Tiefendorff and the name was adopted by the family after they migrated to the Rhineland. During the Middle Ages, surnames were often derived from the village, city, region or state of the first person who used the name.
The surname Dieffenbach was first found in the Rhineland, where the family emerged in mediaeval times as one of the notable families of the region. From the 13th century the surname was identified with the great social and economic evolution which made this territory a landmark contributor to the development of the nation. Chronicles first mention Heinrich Diefenbach of Heidelberg in 1200.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Dieffenbach research. Another 102 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1582, 1620, 1653, 1737 and 1776 are included under the topic Early Dieffenbach History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
One can encounter great variation in the spelling of surnames: in early times, spelling in general, and thus the spelling of names was not yet standardized; and later, spellings would change with branching and movement of families. Variations of the name Dieffenbach include Diefenbach, Tiefenbach, Tieffenbach, Tiefenback, Dieffenback, Diefenbacker, Diefenbaecker, Diefenbaeker, Diefenbacher, Dieffenbach, Diepenback, Diepenbecker, Diefenbecker, Deefenback, Diefebacher and many more.
Notables with the name Dieffenbach during this period were Rudolf von Tiefenbach (1582-1653), Habsburgian military leader who lead the 1st Division of the Imperial Army in 1620; Johann Christian Tieffenbach, who was ennobled in...
Another 34 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Dieffenbach Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Hundreds of thousands of Europeans, including many Rhinelanders, made the voyage to North America between the 17th and 20th centuries. It was an escape from religious persecution and poverty and also an opportunity for people to start over and own their own land. Most landed at Ellis Island, off New York before moving on to the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, and California. Some also landed in Canada and settled in Ontario, while others headed west to the prairie provinces. A study of passenger and immigration lists has shown a number of people bearing the name of Dieffenbach, or one of its variants, reaching North America shores very early: