Wegner
A German occupational surname, generally linked to the maker of wagons or carts.
The #4,336 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 37,689 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Wegner is usually explained as a German occupational surname related to Wagner, the word for a wagon- or cart-maker. The historical sources here treat Wegner as a northern or dialectal form beside Wagner and Wagener, with the same basic sense of someone who made or worked with wagons. In that older scholarship, it is sometimes connected specifically with the craft of a wagonmaker or wheelwright.
History
The name appears in German-language surname records as a variant beside Wagner and Wagener, especially in northern German usage. Later bearers spread the surname beyond Germany through migration, so it is found today in German-speaking regions and in countries with German immigrant communities. Older writers also noted it as a regional form rather than a separate etymology.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century surname scholars explicitly treated Wegner as a dialect form of Wagner rather than as an independent name.
From the historical record
“„Verfertiger von Wagen". FN. Wagener; Wagner — mit Umlaut Wägener; Wegner. Wagenknecht UI. „Fuhrmann" (s. Klempin Meraorab. S. 624: wagenknechte = vorlüde „Fuhrleute"). Selbst Wagenschieber ündet sich als FN. Wahl- s. 1) Walah 2) Wald (V.).”
— Die deutschen Familiennamen