Schiller
A German surname most often explained as a nickname for someone who squints, though some writers linked it to a word for shimmer or color-play.
The #3,884 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 33,809 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The best-known explanation connects Schiller with German schielen, “to squint,” giving a nickname for a squinting or sidelong-looking person. Harrison traces it to an older German root meaning “awry” or “squint-eyed,” which fits that sense. Some 19th-century writers also suggested a different link with Schiller as “colour-play” or “iridescence,” but that interpretation is less certain and seems to be a folk or literary association rather than the main family-name origin.
History
The surname is long established in German-speaking areas and became especially familiar through the poet Friedrich Schiller. English-language surname books of the 19th century treated it as a German import and sometimes noted variant spellings such as Siller. The name also appears in forms and related spellings in neighboring German-speaking and Alsatian usage.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older name books mention that admirers of Friedrich Schiller preferred to associate the name with “color-play” rather than with squinting.
From the historical record
“scenko] SCHILLER (Ger.) Squinter [for Ger, schieler, squinting person; f. schel, M.H.Ger. schel(ch, O.H.Ger. scelah, awry, squint- eyed] Many admirers of the German poet, however, prefer to connect his name with Ger. Schiller, ' colour-play,' ' iridescence.' SCHLESINGER (Ger.) Bel. to Schleus- INGEN (Thuringia)…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)