Surname von Heine - Meaning and Origin
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von Heine: What does the surname von Heine mean?
The last name Von Heine is a German surname deriving from the Middle Ages. As a noble family name often related to royalty, the prefix "von" likely indicates that the bearer was noble or a member of the civic aristocracy. The name Heine is thought by some to be derived from the ancient German word haina which means village, indicating that the family likely originated from a particular village or townsite.
Von Heine seems to have been prominent in the Middle Ages for its noble status, as members of this family appear in Anselm von Heine's 1400s work “Chronica van den heiligen crucke.” The Von Heines can be traced back to the city of Hannover in Lower Saxony, Germany in the 15th century and are related to many other powerful German families.
Today, members of the Von Heine family can be found throughout Europe. Due to immigration, many of them are found in the United States and other areas of the world such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Despite their spread, the Von Heines still maintain much of their German heritage and many of the members of the family proudly display the Von Heine crest.
Order DNA origin analysisvon Heine: Where does the name von Heine come from?
The last name von Heine is found today in Germany, as well as other parts of Europe and North America. In the early 19th century, von Heine was a common family name among the German elite, and was used to denote nobility. During this time, the name spread to other parts of Europe, largely due to marriage alliances. Emigration to North America in the later half of the 19th century also saw a number of people from families with the von Heine surname settling in cities such as Chicago and New York.
Today, individuals with von Heine as a last name can mostly be found in Germany; however, there is a small population of people bearing this name scattered across the United States, Canada, and other parts of Europe. The current population of those with the name could be estimated to be between 500 and 2,000 people, although this figure is uncertain. Considering the original geographical region associated with the von Heine name, Germany remains the hub of its current distribution.
Variations of the surname von Heine
The surname von Heine is a German noble name which was originally derived from a toponymic place name meaning ‘from Heine’. This surname is commonly spelled as ‘von Heine’, although it can also be written with different variations such as von Hain or von Hainen, and when translated to English, the spelling variations are ‘Vonhaine’, ‘Vonhain’, or ‘Vonhainen’. The von Heine surname is also connected to other spellings and surnames such as Hinrichs, Heine, Heinemann, Heinecke, Hines, Haenel, and Heineke.
Von Heine is the aristocratic, noble form of the surname, stemming from the German nobility and royalty, while the variants of von Hain, or von Hainen, are common spellings used by German peasantry. In the Lutheran church records, the name can often be found as Hinerk or Hennerk. A notable person who bore the name was Heinrich von Heine, who was a craftsman of pottery in the 16th century.
The surname von Heine was mainly found in the East-Frisian region of Germany and its variants are mostly concentrated in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate. In other parts of Germany, such as Saxony, Bavaria, and Prussia, the surname occurred in extremely small numbers. In the United States, the family name von Heine was present in communities in Pennsylvania.
In modern day, the surname von Heine is in relatively low numbers in Germany, but many people of German descent who are living in other countries can be found bearing this surname. The modern spelling of von Heine has been retained as the main spelling, but its variants are still very common throughout Germany and beyond.
Famous people with the name von Heine
- Baron von Heine-Geldern (1885-1951), Austrian-born Dutch geographer, archaeologist, ethnographer, author, and art collector
- Karl Christian Friedrich von Heine (1833-1912), German anatomist
- Julius von Heine (1820-1893), German pharmacist and botanist
- Fred von Heine (1921-2001), American baseball player
- Hans-Jürgen von Heine-Geldern (1865-1944), Austrian explorer and natural scientist
- Berthold von Heine-Geldern (1868-1936), Austrian paleontologist and zoologist
- Samuel Gottlieb von Heine (1788–1848), German physician and physician to the Prince of Prussia
- Johann Heinrich von Heine (1721–1798), German Lutheran pastor
- Johann Gottlieb Louis von Heine (1756–1824), German jurist
- Christopher von Heine (1820–1881), German Roman Catholic priest and theologian