Hoehn
A German surname from a word for “height” or “elevated place,” likely first used for someone who lived on high ground.
The #9,301 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 88,238 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hoehn is a German surname, most likely connected with the German word Hohn/Höhe area forms meaning “height,” “hill,” or “high place.” In surname use, it would typically have been applied to someone who lived on or near raised ground, or to a family identified by a place name built from that root. The spelling Hoehn often represents the German umlaut form Höhen or a related dialect spelling rendered in plain Latin letters.
History
German surnames of this type became fixed in the late medieval and early modern periods, and the name later traveled with German-speaking migration to North America. In the United States it is uncommon but established, and the spelling Hoehn is often preserved in families with German roots. The excerpt provided is only an incidental 18th-century mention and does not add much beyond showing the surname in use in England by that time.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The umlaut-free spelling Hoehn is a common way German names were adapted in English-language records, especially where letters like ö were difficult to print or type.
From the historical record
“1766, Married— Chrinontier Baithorn and Mary HoEhn : St. Geo. Han. 5q.i, so. MDaiSoiSlk), 1,1, 1,1,0,0: London, 0^(^0,0,9,0; Butrap(llDB.aj. NdIIi),!. Bai11e.-Bapt.'theson ofBat^”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances