Ackerknecht (family name)

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Around 1500, at the eponymous time, the family name Ackerknecht was a common name in some regions. The same applies to other names in connection with -knecht ( knappe / journeyman ), such as Bauknecht, Burgknecht, Frauenknecht, Frischknecht, Gutknecht, Rinderknecht, Wagenknecht or Schildknecht. What is striking today is their mostly regionally very different distribution in Germany, Austria, Poland and Switzerland.

Origin and meaning

Originally, the name Ackerknecht is one of the professional names in connection with the generally widespread agricultural, farming activity, i.e. the occupation of the farmer with the corresponding regionally different names such as: Acker, Ackergang, Ackerknecht, Ackerman (n) (Achermann), Ackerl, Aeckerle, Aeckerlin, Agricola, Bau (e) r , Bäuerle, Baumann, Bauknecht and many more. It should also be noted that there were no fixed spellings. In particular, the naming is related to the function of the individual participants, whereby a great social change has been recorded since the early Middle Ages due to the structure of cultivation and land ownership. At the time these family names were created , the property to be worked on was usually in the hands of the church or the nobility or their feudal people, and it was only later that individual property ownership became possible or common.

Hans Bahlow mentions under farmhand : the plow-guiding, plowing farmhand ; Under Ackermann: old name of the arable farmer (cf. Ackerknecht) in the service of a landlord . In addition, it is listed under Bau (e) r (arable farmer) (numerous in Bavaria): mhd. (Bûwen = do arable farming) . Under Baumann ( obd.): Bûmann "farmer" is the name Bauknecht (Württ-) mhd. Bûknecht = "Ackerknecht" (Württ.) To be found . The clan research of Josef Karlmann Brechenmacher proves that the family name Ackerknecht was known in the 13th century, which is often equated with farm hand (Bauknecht or farmer). Accordingly, in a document from Pope Innocent IV in 1246, a Hainricus de Ginnigen (Gönnigen, Tübingen district ), alias Aygerkneht (Aggerknecht) appears. Later in 1320 a person was named Akkerkneht in Möhringen, Riedlingen district. Only in 1351 does the surname appear as it does today in the person of the citizen Heinrich Ackerknecht, who lives in Billingsbach, Gerabronn district. He is followed by Hans Ackerknecht (1384), Johann der Ackerknecht (around 1400; Rufach, Alsace), Johann Ackerknecht (1477; Mittweida, Saxony), Martin Ackerknecht (1494; Dettingen, Urach district), Cord Ackerknecht (1542; Vlotho, Westphalia; however, in 1550 he calls himself Cord Ackermann), Johann Friedrich Ackerknecht (1766; merchant in Metzingen, Württemberg) and Johann Gottfried Ackerknecht (1782, merchant in Metzingen).

Occurrence

Little is known about the spread of the surname Ackerknecht in other, especially European countries. However, there is a connection in the new world to descendants of ancestors from Herrenberg (Württemberg), among others, who increasingly emigrated to North America (USA and Canada) from around 1850. In Chile, the Ackerknecht begin their presence with the immigration (1886) of the two German citizens (Gotthilf) Christian (beer brewer) and Hermann (Otto) Ackerknecht (mechanic), both from Herrenberg (Württemberg). It is noteworthy that on the German emigrant lists, especially on those of the 19th century, in addition to the usual surnames and occupations , depending on the region of origin, the designation Ackerknecht or Ackermann can be found, rather than farmer or farmer . This can be confusing when searching for the family name Ackerknecht, especially on the Internet.

frequency

On the one hand, it is striking that today the family name Ackerknecht occurs extremely rarely in Germany and also in old emigration areas or has hardly been preserved there. (In the USA there are perhaps 150 people around 1990.) Only around 500 people with this name can still be found in Germany today (around 10 in Switzerland). On the other hand, however, the very widespread use of the related name Ackermann (around 11,000 in Germany, around 2000 in Switzerland) can be determined. Similar numerical relationships can be observed today between the similar family names Bauknecht (FRG: around 1400, CH: around 30) and the widespread Baumann (FRG: around 40,000; in CH: around 10,000). The professional meaning of a name according to today's understanding of the professional hierarchy and division of labor should currently be the opposite of the number, or at most the same. It seems that the name Ackerknecht in particular has survived in the Eifel or the Middle Rhine, in the Palatinate and in Württemberg or in early emigration areas. It can also be determined that the name Ackerknecht (also Akkerknecht, Aggerknecht and others) appeared around 1250, before the name Ackermann.

Changes

It seems likely that at that time by the linguistic devaluation in the German concept of servant ( Squire / journeyman ) many on their behalf to -knecht in a househusband may have changed. This may have happened in the course of the general introduction of family names around 1500. (In English the meaning of Knight as a knight has been preserved, in German in the word Landsknecht ( mercenaries who replaced knight armies).) Around 1250 there was even a Hugo Ackerritter, probably of the lower nobility. The change of name from farm hand to farm man can be proven, in particular by the name change of an ancestor, namely Cord Ackerknecht (1542, Vlotho, Westphalia) to Cord Ackermann in 1550. Often, however, emigrated farm laborers also have their names, for example on the field or through Omitting the second K shortened to field law, because in foreign-language areas dealing with the name in terms of pronunciation and spelling was tedious.

Well-known namesake

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  • Julius Ackerknecht , Hermann Ackerknecht: Genealogical studies and documents on the Ackerknecht family. Stuttgart around 1920.
  • Breaking maker, Josef Karlmann : Ackerknecht. The story of a German family name. Assessment. Typescript, Verlag Deutscher Familien-Chroniken, Stuttgart 1936, 6 pages.
  • Hans Bahlow: German name dictionary. 15,000 surnames and first names explained according to origin and meaning. License issue. Revised edition. Gondrom Verlag, Bayreuth 1981, ISBN 3-8112-0294-4 (© 1967).
  • Karl Brunner , Gerhard Jaritz: Landlord, farmer, farm hand, the farmer in the Middle Ages. Cliché and reality. H. Böhlaus Nachf., Vienna et al. 1985, ISBN 3-205-07261-8 .
  • Carlos Ackerknecht: 100 años de la familia Ackerknecht tailors. 1890-1990. = 100 years of the Ackerknecht-Schneider family. Temuco 1992, online (PDF; 9.37 MB) .

Web links