Surname Guttbier - Meaning and Origin
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Guttbier: What does the surname Guttbier mean?
The last name Guttbier is of German origin and originated from the Middle High German words “gut" and "bier". The term “gut" means “good" and was commonly used to mean “valuable" or “high quality," while “bier" means “beer". Therefore, Guttbier is thought to mean “good beer", perhaps originally indicating a profession of a brewer or someone who had knowledge or craftsmanship of beer-making.
An alternative and less likely explanation of the name could be based on the commonly found term “guttle”, “gud" or “guddle", which can be traced back through Middle High German and Old High German to mean “to eat or devour". In this case, the name Guttbier may have had more of a literal interpretation of “eating beer".
In German records, the Guttbier spelling can be found as far back as the 16th century and it is thought to have been quite common in the Bavarian region of Germany. It is also known to have spread to other European countries, such as the Netherlands and United States, with many immigrants adopting the name. With the 150 years since emigration, variations of spelling have become more widespread and today the surname Guttbier can be found in many countries.
Order DNA origin analysisGuttbier: Where does the name Guttbier come from?
The last name Guttbier is most commonly found in the Eastern European countries of Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. This name is often spelled Guttbiyer, and has derived variously from the Yiddish term for 'winebibber' or from Germanic personal name Godebald. It is often anglicized as Gutt Beers, Gutt Beyer, Gut Beyer, or Gut Beyers.
In Poland, the Guttbier surname is most common in the southern Polish regions of Opole Voivodeship and Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Most Guttbier families come from the western village of Pstrąże near Wrocław. The Guttbier surname was most likely adopted by a Jewish family or families in the 18th century, as the suffix –biyer is a transliteration of Polish surname Bajer, or what was once a Jewish occupational surname.
In the Czech Republic, the Guttbier surname is most common in and around Prague, and in the Usti nad Labem Region. This appears to have been a more recent adoption, with many members of the Guttbier family coming to the Czech Republic after World War II.
The Guttbier surname is also present in Romania and Slovakia, primarily amongst Jews who migrated eastward from Poland following the war.
Today, the Guttbier surname is spread across Eastern Europe, and with the increasing frequency of people travelling and emigrating, the name is slowly being adopted in more Western countries.
Variations of the surname Guttbier
The surname Guttbier has numerous variants, spellings, and alternative surnames of the same origin. These can be divided into two main types – surnames with the same spelling as Guttbier and surnames with slight alterations (for example, by removing a letter or adding a letter).
Surnames which have the same spelling as Guttbier include Gutbier, Gutbir, Gutbie, Guttbir, Gutbyer, and Gutbyr.
Surnames which have one or two letter additions, deletions, or transpositions include Gubtbier, Guttbeir, Guttbie, Guttbierr, Gutbeier, Gutbere, Guttbeyr, Guttbire, Guttbirre, Guttbirk, and Guttbirr.
The surname Guttbier is also sometimes found with an additional ‘s’ added, resulting in spellings such as Guttbiers, Gutbiers, and Guttbirrs.
Finally, the surname Guttbier is sometimes found with a ‘u’ substituted for the ‘tt’, resulting in spellings such as Gutubier and Gutubir.
In conclusion, the surname Guttbier has numerous variants, spellings, and alternative surnames of the same origin. These can be divided into two main types – alternate spellings of the same surname and alternative surnames with one or two letter additions, deletions, or transpositions.
Famous people with the name Guttbier
- Paul Guttbier: Paul Guttbier is a German actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, and director best known for his film Little Big World (2007).
- Jan Guttbier: Jan Guttbier is a German businessperson who established an international textile trading business in Germany in 1988.
- Christian Guttbier: Christian Guttbier is a German entrepreneur who founded the Hamburg-based online marketing agency Webwerk in 2006.
- Reiner Guttbier: Reiner Guttbier is a German photographer and documentary filmmaker who runs a website offering professional photography services.
- Bernd Guttbier: Bernd Guttbier is a noted German economist and professor at the University of Münster, focusing on the research of finance, labor economics, and economic policy.
- Franz Guttbier: Franz Guttbier is a German painter and sculptor who works in a Neo-Expressionist style, which combines elements of Expressionism and Pop Art.
- Teresa Guttbier: Teresa Guttbier is a German voice actor, author, and radio host specializing in dubbing for the children’s program Europop.
- Karl Guttbier: Karl Guttbier is a German art historian and professor at the University of Cologne whose work focuses primarily on the history and aesthetics of modern painting and sculpture.