Surname Schmitte - Meaning and Origin
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Schmitte: What does the surname Schmitte mean?
The last name Schmitte is a German occupational surname meaning “smith.” It is derived from the Middle High German word “smith” or “smid,” and refers to a person who worked with metal working crafts (such as a blacksmith, white smith, farrier, etc.). The surname is popular in both Germany and Switzerland, and can be found among many Jewish families in Eastern Europe (particularly in eastern Poland and western Ukraine).
The Schmitte surname is considered a very old one, with its earliest records appearing in the 1400s. By the late 1700s, the surname had spread to many other countries, including Austria, France, Ireland, England, the United States, and Canada. The spelling of the surname often varied between countries, with variants such as Schmidt, Schmitt, Schmitz, and Schmit being common.
The Schmitte surname is generally associated with work, and those bearing the name often worked in professions related to metalworking, such as blacksmithing, farriery, tool making, and more. It is also associated with the production of weapons, utensils, and hardware. Today, the Schmitte surname is still widely used around the world, and many descendants of the original Schmitte family continue to pursue artisan trades involving metalworking.
Order DNA origin analysisSchmitte: Where does the name Schmitte come from?
The last name Schmitte is most commonly found in Germany today. According to the Statistisches Bundesamt, there are approximately 7940 people in Germany that have this surname. It is also present to a lesser extent in the countries that border Germany, such as Poland, Austria, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. Beyond this region, the most frequent appearances of the name are in Luxembourg, and regions with a sizable German-speaking presence, such as the United States and Brazil.
In the United States, the 2000 census revealed that there were roughly 1695 people with the name Schmitte. In Brazil, the Institute of Geography and Statistics and the Brazilian Civil Registry counted about 650 people with the name. These numbers tell us that even though the name Schmitte is most prevalently found in Germany today, it is still scattered throughout other countries as well.
Beyond this large Germanic diaspora, the name Schmitte is also found in some other regions where large numbers of German immigrants, or their descendants, settled. For example, South Africa and Namibia are countries with many German descendants, and hence the surname is more prevalent than one might expect.
In summary, the name Schmitte is most common in Germany today, with many carriers in the neighboring countries. Beyond that, it is scattered across other German-speaking regions, as well as countries that have seen considerable immigration from Germany.
Variations of the surname Schmitte
The surname Schmitte is of German origin and is derived from either the Middle High German ‘smit’ or Old German ‘smite’, both meaning ‘smith’. As such, variants, spellings and surnames of the same origin include Schmidt, Schmit, Schmitt, Smith, Smit, Smite, Schmittou, Schmiedt or Schmeidt.
The variant spellings Schmiedt and Schmeidt are direct variations of the original Schmitte and are most commonly found in countries which adopt the German Umlaut, notably Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The spellings Smith and Smit are direct translations of the original Schmitte, as they are English equivalents of the German word for Blacksmith, hence why they are more commonly found in countries that speak English, such as USA, Australia and Canada. The spellings Smite and Schmittou are more rarely seen and may have been adapted from the original Schmitte to form unique surnames, as they have very limited records.
Overall, the variants, spellings and surnames of the same origin for the Germanic surname Schmitte are very numerous and can be seen all across the world. These include the more popular Schmidt, Schmit and Smith, as well as the rarer variations such as Schmittou and Smite, making it a name with a long and interesting history.
Famous people with the name Schmitte
- Alexander Schmitte: German canoeist
- Bernd Schmitte: German former football player
- Laura Schmitte: Swiss swimmer
- Mary Schmitte: American diver
- Maurice Schmitte: French actor
- Michelle Schmitte: German-British musician
- Nathalie Schmitte: Swiss figure skater
- Wolf Schmitte: German football manager
- Patrick Schmitte: Swiss bobsledder
- Petr Schmitte: Czech canoer
- Robert Schmitte: Swiss ski jumper
- Silvio Schmitte: Austrian footballer
- Theodore Schmitte: Swiss handball player
- Ryan Schmitte: American soccer player
- Matthew Schmitte: American actor and musician