Merkel
A German surname that often began as a shortened form of a name like Markwart or Markward.
The #5,022 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 44,163 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Merkel is usually treated as a German diminutive or reduced form of a longer personal name, especially Markwart or Markward. The first element is the old Germanic mark, meaning a border, boundary, or frontier, while the second element is a word for guard or protector. In older surname formation, the ending -el often made a familiar or shortened form, so Merkel could arise from Markel and related forms.
History
The name is well attested in German surname lists and dialect records, especially in southern and central German-speaking areas. Older onomastic works also note related forms such as Markel, Merkl, and Merk. In some cases, the surname may have been shortened further to Merk.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Several 19th-century surname scholars grouped Merkel with a family of names built from Mark- and noted that some dialects later dropped the diminutive ending altogether, leaving forms like Merk.
From the historical record
“Familiennamen: el (die verbreitetste Form): Dieielj Merkel; 1 (bayrisch, österreichisch): IHetl, Merkl; le (schwäbisch): Dieile, Merkle — mit Bindevokal: Eisele; li (schweizerisch): Märkli; lin (schwäbisch, schweizerisch): * Märkltn, Bürklin — abgestumpft in:”
— Die deutschen FamiliennamenNotable people named Merkel
- Angela Merkel (b. 1954)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.