Steinbach
A German locational surname meaning “stony brook” or “rocky stream.”
The #8,312 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,438 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Steinbach is made from German stein, meaning “stone” or “rock,” and bach, meaning “brook” or “stream.” The name originally referred to someone who lived near a stony stream or came from a place called Steinbach. Historical surname dictionaries also gloss it as “rocky brook” or “stony brook.”
History
Steinbach is a common German place-name and surname pattern, so the family name likely arose independently in several places rather than from one single ancestor. It spread with German-speaking migration into other parts of Europe and later to North America. The surname is still most strongly associated with German-language regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same naming pattern appears in many other German surnames built from landscape features, such as Steinberg (“stone hill”) and Steinbecker (“person from the stone brook/stream place”).
From the historical record
“STEIN-: V. the Appendix of Foreign Names for such Ger. names as Steinbach, 'Stony or Rocky Brook' ; Steinberg, 'Rocky Hill'. STEINFORTH, a var. of Stainfopth, q.v. [with the first element influenced by”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)