England
GermanyThe ancestral home of the Dorne family is Bavaria. Dorne is a local name for a person who lived near a thorn-bush or hedge. The surname Dorne is derived from the German word dorn, which means thorn. Thus, the name was adopted by a person who lived near thorn bushes. The name Dorne also was used by people from Dornach, which is a town located near Munich in Bavaria. There is also a town named Dörnach in Tübingen, Westphalia and a city named Thorn (which is now Torun) in Poland. In Bavaria, the Dorne family lived on a feudal estate. Land proprietorship and management were the sole source of wealth and power in the Middle Ages and the Dorne family, as noble landowners, became prestigious members of the landed aristocracy.
The surname Dorne was first found in Bavaria, where the name came from humble beginnings but gained a significant reputation for its contribution to the emerging mediaeval society. It later became more prominent as many branches of the same house acquired distant estates and branches, some in foreign countries, always elevating their social status by their great contributions to society.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Dorne research. Another 71 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1738, 1530, 1584, 1809, 1884, 1804, 1824 and 1825 are included under the topic Early Dorne History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Many cultural groups lived in the German states in medieval times. Each had its own dialect and traditions, and unique variations of popular names. Low German, which is similar to contemporary Dutch, was spoken in Westphalia. German names are characterized by additions such as regional suffixes and phrases that tell something about the origin or background of its original bearer. Further contributing to the variation in German names was the fact that there were no spelling rules in medieval times: scribes recorded names according to their sound. The recorded spelling variations of Dorne include Dorn, Dorner, Doorn, Doern, Dorne, Dorns and others.
Prominent among members of the name Dorne in this period include Gerhard Dorn (c. 1530-1584), a Belgian philosopher, translator, alchemist, physician and bibliophile; and Isaac August Dorner (1809-1884), an important Lutheran theologian.
Heinrich Ludwig Edmund Dorn was a very considerable musician of modern Germany, born at Königsberg, Prussia, Nov. 14, 1804. His turn for music showed itself early, and was duly encouraged and assisted, but not so as to interfere with his general education. He went through...
Another 75 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Dorne Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In France, the name Dorne is the 7,833rd most popular surname with an estimated 1,000 - 1,500 people with that name. [1]
Dorne migration to the United States +Between the mid-17th and mid-20th centuries, German settlers arrived in North America by the thousands. Persecution based on religion and poverty were great motivators in this large-scale migration. So too was the opportunity for tenant farmers to own their own land. Ample land and opportunity awaited the settlers who went to such states as Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Illinois, and California, as well as Ontario and the prairie provinces of Canada. Research into the origins of individual families in North America revealed records of the immigration of a number of people bearing the name Dorne or a variant listed above:
