Richter (family name)

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Richter is a German family name .

Origin and meaning

The surname Richter comes from the professional title "Richter". Only in a few cases was this meant the profession that we now understand as judge . In the east of the German-speaking area - in Bohemia and Moravia , Silesia , Upper Lusatia and Saxony - the term judge also referred to the hereditary office of the Dorfschulzen (community leader). In the context of the high medieval state expansion (10th and 12th to 14th centuries), heir schulzen were set up in Saxony and Lusatia , with the office being tied to family or property ownership. Later, the term Schulze was replaced in various regions (for example Saxony) by the official title of judge (see also Freirichter ). This is why the Richter family name is so widespread and appears more frequently in eastern Germany than in the west.

It is also the family name of the Baltic noble family of Richter .

frequency

The surname Richter was ranked 14th among the most common German surnames in 1996 (see: List of most common surnames in Germany ). On a list from 1970 that only takes into account the common names in what was then the Federal Republic of Germany, i.e. not in the GDR, the surname Richter is only in 29th place. Like Schulze , Richter is a surname with a significant Difference in frequency between West and East Germany.

Name bearer

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G

H

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Y

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ U. Hagner: The official schools and magistrates in the Prussian villages from the 16th to the 18th century. In: Yearbook of the Hohenleben-Reichenfels Museum. Hohenleben 1985, pp. 21-46.
  2. ^ Distribution of the surname Richter