Surname Mertzenich - Meaning and Origin
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Mertzenich: What does the surname Mertzenich mean?
The last name Mertzenich is a German surname derived from the medieval given name Mertin or Merhart. The name Mertin is a combination of the Germanic elements "meri" meaning famous and "hart" meaning hardy or strong. The term Mertzenich is derived from the Old High German term ‘Mertinch’, meaning friend or hero.
The Mertzenich family has long been associated with the city of Heinsberg, located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. As early as the 14th century, the Mertzenich family was established in the area and several members of the family held important positions such as burgomasters of Heinsberg. This connection with Heinsberg is believed to be the source of the Mertzenich surname.
Mertzenichs today can still be found in the same area, which is now part of the Mönchengladbach metropolitan region. In recent history, the Mertzenich surname can be found all over Germany, but in smaller concentrations than the more widespread English, French, and Irish surnames. Today, the Mertzenich surname is held by many people all over the world who are descendants from the original Mertzenich family in Heinsberg.
Order DNA origin analysisMertzenich: Where does the name Mertzenich come from?
The last name Mertzenich is a German surname originating in the Rhineland, an area in the western part of Germany. Mertzenich is a variation of the spelling Martzenich which originally meant “from the Maertzen farmstead”.
Today, Mertzenich is a common surname throughout Germany and in the borderlands of France, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Mertzenich is also found in the United States, Australia, and other countries around the world, indicating the family’s history of migration away from the traditional Rhineland territories.
In the US, Mertzenich family members live in large numbers in the states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. These states were originally settled by Germanic and Dutch immigrants and the Mertzenich name is common among many of them.
In contemporary Germany, Mertzenichs are most concentrated in parts of Bavaria and the Rhineland-Palatinate near the original Rhineland. Many members of the Mertzenich family are still farm owners or workers in this region.
The Mertzenich name is still respected and known in Germany, and surname bearers are considered part of the small but important sub-culture of the Rhineland.
Variations of the surname Mertzenich
The Mertzenich surname is believed to have derived from the place-name “Mertzheim“ located in Germany. Its variant spellings are Mortzensche, Mortensche, Merzensche, Mortzinche, Menzensche, Mertzinche, Marzenich, and Merttenich. Commonly, other regional variants may also exist.
The surname “Mertzenich” has been noted historically in Prussia, but also in the United States and Canada in the 19th century. In Prussia, the forms of the surname in the 1700s were considered to have been derived from their original place of origin in Mertzheim.
In the German-speaking regions, other variants of the name include Marzienic, Martenich, Merzenich, Mertensche, Morteniche, and Mortzinche. During the course of migrations, the initial “Mar” was often replaced by other letters, such as “Mer” or “Mor”. As such, surnames that originated from Mertzheim wound up exhibiting all of these spellings at different locations.
In the United States and Canada, records have shown the use of the surnames Mortzinche, Mortzensche, Merzensche, Menzensche, Mertzensche, Marzenich, and Mertzenich. Additionally, variations of this original surname may be the result of immigration, phonetic variations, misspellings, and other dialectic variations.
Since the 1700s, the Mertzenich surname has been associated with military, government service, and church records in Prussia, and many of its descendants in the United States have continued on in these lines of work.
Famous people with the name Mertzenich
- Ella Mertzenich: German hurdler
- Tim Mertzenich: former pitcher in Major League Baseball
- Lukas Mertzenich: German footballer
- Emil Mertzenich: German politician
- Richard Mertzenich: former professor at the University of Bonn
- Michael Mertzenich: Austrian footballer
- Marius Mertzenich: German keyboardist and composer
- Franz Joseph Mertzenich: German botanist
- Linda Mertzenich: German hurdler
- Hendrik Mertzenich: German artist and documentary filmmaker.