Spangler
A German surname most likely from a maker or seller of buckles or clasps.
The #1,940 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 16,580 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Spangler is generally treated as a German occupational name. The most likely source is Middle High German and related dialect words for a clasp, buckle, or small fastening, with the surname originally referring to someone who made or sold such items. Older writers sometimes linked it with similar-sounding German forms and sometimes compared it to names like Spengler, but the core idea is an artisan connected with metal fittings or fasteners.
History
The name appears among German and German-American surnames in the 19th-century record, especially in the United States. It may overlap in spelling or pronunciation with related surnames such as Spengler, which helped create some confusion in older surname lists. In America, Spangler became established as a fairly common German-American family name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname compilers glossed the related root as meaning a small clasp or lock, which is why names in this family are often explained as “maker of buckles/clasps.”
From the historical record
“wise, Mesrs. Gear, Gearing, Gird, and Herwig ; Messrs. Lace, Linen, Linnen, Musliner, Musk ; five families of Smock ; Spangler, Pelisse, Scarf, Scarff, Puff, Turns, Turnure, and Wimp ; also Wear, WoRAM, and Worn; Hatt, Livery, Stocking, Stock- ings, Stockinger ; Wigeman, Wiggans, Wigger, and Wiggers. Mr. Wigfall…”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)