Steinberg
A German habitational surname meaning “stone hill” or “rocky hill.”
The #2,841 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 24,293 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Steinberg is built from German Stein, meaning “stone” or “rock,” and Berg, meaning “hill” or “mountain.” In surname use, it would originally have identified someone who lived by, or came from, a stony hill or rocky rise. The name is also common as a place-name, so some family lines may ultimately come from a locality called Steinberg.
History
The surname is recorded in German-speaking naming tradition and appears widely in Jewish and non-Jewish German surname use. In English-language surname books it is explained straightforwardly as a “stony” or “rocky hill.” Emigration from German-speaking Europe helped spread the name to North America and other regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Steinberg is also a place-name, the same surname can sometimes point either to a landscape feature or to a specific town or village called Steinberg.
From the historical record
“[see Stein and Bach] STEINBERG (Ger.) Stony or Rocky Hill [see Stein and Berg] STEINER (Ger.) i Dweller by a Rock [= Stein (q.v.) -|- the agent, suff. -er] 2 Stone, i.e. Hard or Stuong War- rior [O.Ger. Steinher, Steinhar: see Stein, and -I- O.H.Ger. O.Sax. heri, hari, army ; in pers. noraencl. short for heriman[n…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)