Blumenthal
A German ornamental surname meaning “flower valley.”
The #8,914 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 84,058 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Blumenthal is made from German Blume, “flower,” and Tal/Thal, “valley.” The name is therefore a compound meaning “flower valley” or “valley of flowers.” It fits the tradition of decorative German surnames built from pleasant natural imagery.
History
Harrison explicitly glosses the name as “Flower-Valley,” and Weekley groups it with other ornamental German surnames such as Rosenberg and Goldberg. Such names were especially common among German-speaking Jewish families in the 18th and 19th centuries, though they could also be adopted more broadly in German-speaking areas. The spelling with -thal reflects older German orthography; modern German usually writes Tal.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same first element appears in other decorative surnames like Blumenfeld, “flower field.”
From the historical record
“O.H.Ger. feld, a field] BLUMENTHAL (Ger.) Flower-Valley [see under Blumenfeld; and + Ger. t{h)al, O.H.Gej. tal, a' dale, valley] BONNIN (Fr.) QooD [Fr. Jwi, Lat. bon-us, , good + the Fr. dim; suff. -in] BONVAL(L)ET (Fr.) Good Valet or Youth [Fr. ban, Lat. bon-us, good -f- Fr. valets”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)