Many surnames end in berg (mountain). Stein (stone), Weiss (white), Gold, etc. The only name (I am aware of) that ends in burg (city) is Ginsburg. Ginsberg is also a name. What does Gins mean here? How is there are the two names? Are there any other surnames with burg?
It seems, according to this poster, that burg more specifically means fort: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/soc.genealogy.german/elmHINAUot0 "The surname Ginsburg is a habitational name, derived from the places named Gunzberg, in Bavaria, Günzburg, in Swabia, or Gintsshprik, which is the Yiddish name for Königsburg, in East Prussia." https://www.houseofnames.com/ginsburg-family-crest
Hamburg, Salzburg, Johannesburg, to name 3 others. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Burgh is a closely related term and far more common in the UK (e.g. Edinburgh), although Burg in English I believe was a dialect variant of Burgh... but ultimately all coming from the old German. In the UK it also led to the -bury variant (e.g. Canterbury, Banbury, Newbury etc).
I am well aware of the fact that burg appears in place names. My question was about surnames of people. From the previous post it appears that Ginsburg is derived from a place name.
and many who came to this country used the place names from whence they came as their surnames. our local dnr ranger's name is Billerbeck---- (perhaps that was once preceded with "von" ?)
Ah, my apologies. Anyhoo - Hapsburg/Habsburg is probably the most famous example. Then there's Friedburg, Hamburg, Rodenburg... all German, all based on cities, I believe.
Then there is also the French bourg, used to mean a town or even the centre of a village, hence bourgeois, etc. Serge Gainsbourg, Strasbourg.......
Don't forget the Star Trek Borg Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
True, but cities tend to be more commonly used as names. London is a more common name than Matterhorn. If a person is "from" a place, cities tend to be more habitable places than moutains.
I knew a Dutchman whose surname was Logtenberg, but pronounced Lochtenberech, in the Dutch fashion. This gave me an insight into why the city of my birth, Edinburgh is pronounced Edinbrer.
We tend to pronounce -borough as -bruh... so it's quite common for people to misspell it as Edinborough. Marlborough is "Marlbruh", for example.
You guys are always swimming upstream, aren't you? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!