LANGER
Langer is a surname that originates from Germany and is found throughout Europe. It is first recorded in the year 972 in the county of Northamptonshire, where a man named Aetheric the Langa is mentioned in the reign of King Edgar.
The name is derived from the Middle High German word langer, which means long or tall. It was originally used as a nickname for a person who was tall or who had long limbs. In some cases the surname may have arisen as a habitational name for someone living in a place called Langer, itself derived from the Old High German word lang, meaning long.
In addition to the German form, the surname has been recorded in a number of spellings, including Lang, Lange, Langar, Langhor, Lung and Lunge. It also appears in Scandinavian and Anglo‑Saxon records, where it is thought to have been a descriptive nickname for a tall person, stemming from the pre‑seventeenth‑century word lang meaning long or tall. In some contexts it may have been a residential name for someone who lived at a langa, a long area of ground cultivated for agriculture. The Irish form derives from the Gaelic surname O’Longain, a personal name that probably comes from long but which may have referred to a ship, perhaps indicating a sailor.
Early examples of the name include Leofwine Lange, noted in the Anglo‑Saxon Chronicles of England in 1070, and Bernard Long, recorded in the feudal documents for the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, in 1121. One of the first settlers to move to the New World was Henry Long, aged twenty‑one, who departed from the port of London aboard the Hopewell bound for Barbados in February 1634.
In contemporary terms, the surname is most common in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, where it ranks 190th, 77th and 246th respectively. It is the 250th most common surname in the Czech Republic. Outside Europe the name is found in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. In the United States it ranks 4,998th overall, but is especially prevalent in North Dakota, where it is the 95th most common name, and is also found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Illinois and other states with large populations of German descendants.
Many families bearing the surname Langer emigrated to the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the process of assimilation some changed the spelling to longer or long to appear more Americanised. Despite these variations, the name remains recognisable as a Germanic surname and is also common among Jewish families who share the same origin. The original German meaning of langer conveys the idea of a tall, strong individual and, in some contexts, may suggest qualities of patience and tolerance.
Typical given names associated with the Langer surname
Male
- Christopher
- Daniel
- David
- Henry
- James
- John
- Martin
- Michael
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
- Simon
- Timothy
Female
- Anne
- Barbara
- Diana
- Gabriele
- Heidi
- Joyce
- Karen
- Kim
- Lesley
- Martina
- Melanie
- Sandra
- Sharon
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Langer in...
Braille
⠇⠁⠝⠛⠑⠗
Morse
.-...--.--...-.
Semaphore
There are approximately 498 people named Langer in the UK. That makes it one of Britain's least common surnames. Only around eight in a million people in Britain are named Langer.
Region of origin: Europe
Famous people named Langer
- Clive Langer - Record producer and songwriter
- Elena Langer - Composer
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.