Schumacher
A German occupational surname meaning “shoemaker.”
The #1,404 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,207 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Schumacher is built from German schuh, meaning “shoe,” plus macher, “maker,” so the name literally means “shoe maker” or “shoemaker.” The word family goes back through Middle High German and Old High German forms of the same elements. It belongs to the large class of German occupational surnames created from a craft or trade.
History
The surname has long been common in German-speaking areas and often appears in records in the same occupational cluster as Schuster and Schumann, which are also linked to shoemaking. In English-language sources and immigrant records, it was sometimes translated directly as Shoemaker. The name remains widespread in Germany and among descendants of German emigrants.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century surname writers regularly glossed Schumacher simply as the German equivalent of “shoemaker,” showing how transparent the meaning was to them.
From the historical record
“O.H.Ger. scultheiso (= A.-Sax. scyldkasta] SCHUMACHER (Ger.) Shoemaker [Ger. schuh, M.H.Ger, schuoch, O.H.Ger. scuoh, shoe -f- Ger. macher, f. machen, M.H.Ger. macheit, O.H.Ger. mahhSn, to make] SCHUMANN (Ger.) Shoemaker [see under Schumacher; and -|- mann, man] SCHUSTER (Ger.) Shoemaker [M.H.Ger.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)