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| Origins Available: |
| | Germany |
Bavaria, Germany is the ancestral home of the Zellmer family. The Zellmer surname evolved as a local name. It is a name for a family that lived in the place named Zell. This place-name can be found in several areas in Germany, but the most well known town of this name is in the region of Freiburg, which is in the Schwarzwald, or the Black Forest, just north of the Swiss border. The place-name has appeared in several countries where the Germanic people had influence.
The surname Zellmer was first found in Bavaria, 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 supremacy in constantly changing power relations. Chronicles first mention Ulrich Zeller of Esslingen in 1282 and Dietrich Czelleman of Muehlhausen in Saxony in 1393. The name originates in the Latin word "cella," which was taken into mediaeval German in the word "Klosterzelle."
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Zellmer research. Another 118 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1462, 1477, 1497, 1503, 1548, 1560, 1562, 1630, 1683 and 1763 are included under the topic Early Zellmer 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 Zellmer include Zeller, Zellers, Zell, Zelle, Zella, Zellmer, Zelleman, Zellaman, Zellemann, Zellner, Zelmer, Zelman, Zelkmann, Zellman, Zelner, Zellerman and many more.
Prominent among members of the name Zellmer in this period include Matthäus (Matias) Zell (1477-1548), a Lutheran theologian and reformer based in Strasbourg; and his wife Katharina Zell, née Schütz (1497-1562), a German Protestant writer during the Reformation; Ulrich Zell...
Another 40 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Zellmer Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the United States, the name Zellmer is the 10,685th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1
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 Zellmer or a variant listed above:
Some of the first settlers of this family name were: