Meaning of the name "Sommerfeld"
Good afternoon fellow researchers!
I wanted to share some information with you that I found on the surname "Sommerfeld":
Source: Patrick Hanks & Flavia Hodges, A dictionary of surnames, Page 518
Summer 1. English: nickname for someone of a warm or sunny disposition, or for someone associated with the sea-son of summer in some other way, from ME sum(m)er summer (OE somer); cf. WINTER.
2. English: assimilated var. of SUMNER.
3. English: assimilated var. of SUMPTER.
4. Irish: translation of Gael. O Samhraidh 'descendant of Samhradh', a byname meaning 'Summer'. (...) Compounds (of 1): Jewish: (...) Sommerfeld(t) ('summer field'; Anglicized Summerfield, see also SOMERVILLE); (...).
Furthermore, I found the following pieces of information on one of those sites that try to lure you into buying family crests and framed family history sheets. I am not sure if one can trust the information given, as I have heard many researchers warning not to go for these buys, as the information given is supposed to be not accurate at times. However, for the sake of discussing our fellow surname, I decided to post the pieces of information given on this site (obviously to get the whole text, one would have to buy the family information online):
"According to our research, the origin of the name Sommerfeld is German and English (2 origins available) and the Coat of Arms contains green with a stag at gaze. The crest is a palm tree on a mount.
Sommerfeld family name (English origin):
Spelling variations include: Somerford, Somerfield, and others.
First found in in Cheshire, where they were seated from very ancient times, as Lords of the manor of Somerford, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A. First landed in Geoffrey Somerford who settled in Virginia in 1654.
Sommerfeld family name (German origin):
Spelling variations include: Sommerfeld, Sommerfeldt, Summerfield, Sommerfield and many more.
First found in Silesia, where the name, belonging to one of the oldest classes of Silesian nobles, was associated with the tribal conflicts of the area since 1294.
Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Johann Sommerfelt, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1792. Anna and W. Sommerfeld both came to Texas in 1860, while Jacob, Mathilda, and Wilhelmina Sommerfeld came to New York State in 1898."
Let the discussions begin! I look forward to reading what you found out about the surname "Sommerfeld"...
Bye for now,
Kerstin
P.S.: I also speak German...