Spiegel
A German and Dutch surname meaning “mirror,” often first used as a nickname or house-sign name.
The #5,488 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 48,713 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Spiegel is the German and Dutch word for a mirror or looking-glass. The surname most likely began as a nickname for someone associated with mirrors or as a house-sign name taken from an inn or dwelling marked by a mirror image. The German word goes back through Middle High German and Old High German forms to Latin speculum, meaning “mirror.”
History
The name is recorded in German surname collections as a mirror-related name, and Dutch scholarship also treats Spiegel as a house-name surname, with variants such as Van de Spiegel and Van der Spieghele. A notable bearer was the 16th-century Amsterdam writer Jan Laurenszoon Spiegel. The surname appears in both German- and Dutch-speaking areas, where it could arise independently from the same common noun.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older Dutch usage, “De Spiegel” could be a common house name, not just a family name.
From the historical record
“called Speyerbach [Ger. bach, rivulet] SPIEGEL l(Ger.) Mirror (nick- or trade- SPIEGL [name) [Ger. Spiegel, M.H.Ger. Spiegel, O.H.Ger. spiagal; ult. f. Lat. specul-um, a mirror] SPIELER (Ger.) Player, Actor, Performer [Ger. spieler; f. spielen, O.H.Ger. spilon, to play]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)