Family names in Austria

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The family names in Austria are diverse and regionally very different. On the one hand, this is due to the history of the Austrian Empire and its language areas. On the other hand, there have been and continue to be waves of immigration that continue to increase this diversity.

The different regions of Austria were shaped by different languages, so that in addition to the purely German family names, numerous other languages ​​also influenced the names. However, the most common names are of German origin. While the names of origin and residence names predominate in rural regions , occupational and class names play a greater role in urban areas .

The influence of other languages

Especially in the east and south of Austria, the Slavic languages ​​shaped the existing family names. In the Vienna area there is a large proportion of Czech names, which mainly originate from the early days of the Ringstrasse , the time when the Ringstrasse was built from around 1860, when numerous workers came to Vienna from the northern crown lands of Cisleithania . Around 1880, only about 38.5% were born in Vienna. The proportion did not rise above 50% until 1910, even if, due to the size of the monarchy, it was only an internal migration of the population.

The last wave of refugees was in 1968 when many Czechs came to Austria after the crackdown on the Prague Spring .

In the south of Austria, the southern Slavic influence cannot be overlooked in the name landscape , the Slovenian language in Carinthia and southern Styria, as well as Croatian ( Burgenland- Croatian language ) in Burgenland .

In Tyrol and Vorarlberg , partly also in Salzburg , the Romance languages ​​are recognizable in family names.

The Hungarian naming landscape, especially in the east, did not emerge until the 20th century. On the one hand, the annexation of Burgenland in 1921 through the Treaty of Trianon plays a role. On the other hand, the wave of refugees following the Hungarian uprising in 1956 is noticeable.

Today's immigration from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia leads to a further spread of foreign-language names in Austria.

The 50 most common surnames

The following list does not represent official statistics, but comes from the subscriber data of all major Austrian landline and mobile phone providers. Identical family names are not taken into account; Schmid and Mayer and their respective homophones are more common than Gruber.

  1. Gruber - name of residence
  2. Huber - trade name
  3. Wagner - professional name
  4. Müller - job name
  5. Pichler
  6. Moser
  7. Steiner
  8. Mayer
  9. Berger - place of residence or name of origin
  10. Hofer - stand name
  11. Eder - place of residence or name of origin (Öde)
  12. Bauer - professional name
  13. Winkler - place of residence or name of origin
  14. Schmid - professional name
  15. Weber - professional name
  16. Fox
  17. Maier
  18. black
  19. Tailor - professional name
  20. equestrian
  21. Leitner - place of residence or name of origin
  22. Mayr
  23. Fischer - professional name
  24. Schmidt - professional name
  25. Whimper
  26. Egger - place of residence or name of origin
  27. Baumgartner - name of origin
  28. Brunner - place of residence or name of origin
  29. Wallner
  30. Auer - place of residence or name of origin
  31. Aigner - name of origin or class
  32. wolf
  33. Binder - professional name
  34. Ebner - place of residence or name of origin
  35. Schuster - professional name
  36. Long
  37. Lechner
  38. Haas
  39. Wieser - place of residence or name of origin
  40. Strasser - place of residence or name of origin
  41. Stadler - place of residence or name of origin
  42. Haider - place of residence or name of origin
  43. White
  44. Holzer - job name or home name
  45. Koller - professional name
  46. Mair
  47. Riegler - place of residence or name of origin
  48. Mason - job name
  49. Lehner
  50. winter

Others

The addition of as a nobility mark has not existed in Austria since 1919 and is not regulated in a law on naming, but in the Nobility Repeal Act. According to the more recent case law of the highest courts, all names are affected by this, regardless of whether they (historically) indicate aristocratic origin.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Subscriber data of all major Austrian landline and mobile phone providers , accessed on February 25, 2012.
  2. ↑ Clemens Grünzweig: Does Van der Bellen have to tremble for "Van"? In: The press. January 14, 2019, accessed June 16, 2020 .

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