The ancestral home of the Miera family is in the German state of Bavaria. The name Miera 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 Miera 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 Miera research. Another 287 words (20 lines of text) covering the years 1857, 1849, 1653, 1725, 1363, 1400, 1643, 1847, 1786, 1618, 1689, 1650, 1712, 1646, 1712, 1760, 1832, 1763, 1845, 1786, 1870, 1825, 1898, 1653 and 1713 are included under the topic Early Miera 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 Miera include Mayer, Maier, Meyer, Meier, Mayr, Meyr, Myer and many more.
Prominent among members of the name Miera 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 Miera Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
German settlers were among the most common to come to North America between the mid-17th and mid-20th centuries. Poverty and religious persecution drove many Bavarians to make this long trek. tenant farmers were also enticed by the prospect of owning land. From east to west, these German immigrants populated the United States, settling in Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Illinois, and California. Ontario and the prairie provinces of Canada also provided homes to many. Early settlers bearing the Miera surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Hans Mayer, who was the first bearer of this name to arrive in the New World. He came to Lancaster, Pa. in 1709. During the next 150 years, close to five hundred bearers of this name came to North America, most arriving in Philadelphia between 1730 and 1760.