Surname Ottmüller - Meaning and Origin
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Ottmüller: What does the surname Ottmüller mean?
The surname Ottmüller is typically traced back to Germany, and is believed to be derived from the Old German personal name "Otto" and the Old High German word "Müller." The literal meaning for the beginning of the surname translates to “Otto the miller,”or “Otto the one who operates a mill,” since “müller” in old German means to mill or grind. This implies that the first people who adopted this surname were millers who used water-oel, windmills, or hand-operated mills to produce grain.
The origin of the name dates back to a time when people usually took on a surname to identify their occupation or place of origin. In this case, Ottmüller served as a way to distinguish families who worked as millers. The surname can also appear as Ottmiller, Ottemüller, Oetmueller, or Oettmüller, and generally refers to the same occupational classification. It’s not uncommon for surnames to become slightly altered over the years, but an individual or family’s original surname can still be traced back to its original German root.
Today, the Ottmüller surname lives on in many countries throughout the world, including in Europe, North America, and South Africa. This name also offers a unique way to bridge the gap between the past and the present, since it can be used to connect people to their ancestors who are believed to have been millers in Germany.
Order DNA origin analysisOttmüller: Where does the name Ottmüller come from?
The last name Ottmüller is primarily found in German-speaking regions of the world, particularly in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and surrounding countries. It is also found in areas of Eastern Europe such as the Czech Republic and Hungary. To a lesser extent, the surname can be found in parts of the US, Canada, and parts of South America.
According to Forebears, a research website, the last name Ottmüller ranks as the 255th most common surname in Germany. It is also the 476th most common surname in Austria and the 231st most common surname in Switzerland.
In the United States, the last name Ottmüller is most commonly found in states spreading across the Midwest and the South. The most popular states are currently Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and New Jersey. This implies people of German ancestry settled in the area and came to be known by the last name Ottmüller.
In Canada, the last name is primarily found in the province of Ontario with a scatter of occurrences in other provinces such as Alberta and British Columbia.
There is also a high concentration of the last name in South American countries such as Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil. This likely stems from the large German immigration that occurred to South America in the late 19th century, eventually culminating in a well-established German diaspora.
Overall, Ottmüller is mostly a Germanic surname, although it is also found scattered in various parts of the world due to large-scale German immigration in the pre-WWII era.
Variations of the surname Ottmüller
The surname Ottmüller is a German variant of the Old Norse name ‘Othmar’, which was derived from the components ‘Odda’ and ‘Mar’, meaning ‘wealth’ and ‘famous’ respectively. As a result, Ottmüller is primarily found as a German surname, and any variant spellings are likely to be dialect-specific. It is also found in Austria, where it is recorded as Ottmüller, and in Switzerland, where it is recorded as Othmueller, Otthmueller, Othemueller and Ottermueller.
In the United States, Ottmüller has been Americanized as Othmiller, Otmiller, Othmueller, Othmuller and Othmuler, among variants. It is also found in the Netherlands, bearing various mutations such as Othmul and Othmulle.
Other variants of the name include Ohtmüller, Outmüller and Uthmüller. The name is also found in other forms, such as Müller, Molle and Möller, which are the German equivalents of Miller, a commonly encountered English surname.
Möller is a particularly common variant, and some of the many other spellings it can take include Moll, Mole, Moeller, Mol, Maller, Melle, Maller, Meuller, Moellr and Moller.
It is also possible for the name to be found in combination with other Germanic surnames such as Bauer (farmer) and Schulte (magistrate or judge). A fully combined form of the name may appear as Ottmüller-Schulte or Ottmüllerbauer, for example.
Famous people with the name Ottmüller
- Hans Ottmüller (1902: 1993), German Nazi SS concentration camp doctor.
- August Ottmüller (1871: 1960), Austrian physicist and philosopher.
- Johann Ottmüller (1863-1910), Austrian botanist.
- Christian Ottmüller (1817: 1889), Austrian entomologist.
- Hermann Ottmüller (1855: 1931), German novelist and essayist.
- Siegfried Ottmüller (1913: 1985), German alpine skier who competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics.
- Georg Ottmüller (1861: 1939), Austrian musicologist specializing in the work of Joseph Haydn.
- Gustav Ottmüller (1845: 1913), Austrian military officer.
- Alois Ottmüller (1859: 1942), Austrian physician.
- Ernst Ottmüller (1875: 1934), German physicist.