Surname Zumbühl - Meaning and Origin
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Deep Dives into Ancestry: My iGENEA DNA Test Experience as a Zumbühl
While seeking to understand my ancestry, I turned to the iGENEA DNA test. As the test helped me trace the Swiss-German roots of my surname Zumbühl, I stumbled upon a community of individuals sharing the same surname and, possibly, a familial bond.
I. Zumbühl
read moreZumbühl: What does the surname Zumbühl mean?
The last name Zumbühl is a topographic Swiss surname of German origin. It is derived from the German word zum bühl, literally meaning “at the hill” or “on the hill”. This surname would have been given to those who lived at the base of a hill, particularly in the Swiss canton of Zurich.
The surname Zumbühl is found in records going back to the mid-15th century, when it was used to refer to a particular area in the Zurich canton. The word has been adapted by various dialects and languages, including Dutch, French, and Italian. It has been used to refer to different locations around Switzerland since the 1600s.
Today, Zumbühl is regarded as a classic Swiss patronymic surname and one of the oldest of its kind. It has continued to be used in its original form, but it is also sometimes seen with variants such as Zumbuehl, Zimmermann, Zimmer, and Zumburger. It is a common name in Switzerland, and it can be found all over the world in locations with a Swiss diaspora. People with this name are likely descended from people who lived in the Swiss canton of Zurich centuries ago.
Order DNA origin analysisZumbühl: Where does the name Zumbühl come from?
The last name Zumbühl is most commonly associated with Switzerland, though there are some Zumbühls with German roots. The name is derived from a Swiss-German dialectic form of the German word “Zumbehl,” which originally meant someone who lived near a bee mound. Other variants of the surname include Zumbuhl, Zumbül, Zumbel, Zumbeler, and Zumbuhler.
The surname first became established in Switzerland during the 12th-14th centuries. It is most common today in the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland, especially in the cantons of Bern and Aargau. Zumbühls can also be found in Central Europe, particularly in German-speaking and formerly German-speaking regions of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Czech Republic.
In the United States, the name is moderately common. Records show that some members of the Zumbühl family arrived in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is now particularly widespread in the Midwest, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
Worldwide, there are currently around 4,700 people with the name Zumbühl.
Variations of the surname Zumbühl
Various variants and spellings of the surname Zumbühl exist, although they are all derived from the same origin. These include Zumbüel, Zumbuhl, Cymbühl, and Tsumbuhl, as well as surnames derived from the original German spelling such as Zumbahl, Zumbiel, and Zummel.
The word “Zumbühl” is thought to come from the German words for “summit” or “peak”, and as such, it likely originated as a toponym, denoting someone who lived at or near the top of a hill or mountain. This could also explain why variations of the surname exist in other countries, such as Switzerland.
In some cases, the name has become anglicised to Zumbuhl, often found in America and Australia, or even simply Cymbuhl, which is the variant commonly found in England. This may have resulted from immigrants bringing the name with them to these countries, although the sound of the name may also have been changed over time due to difficulty with pronunciation or transcription.
Finally, surnames that are related to Zumbühl can also be found in German-speaking countries such as Austria and Germany itself. This includes the names Tsumbuhl, Thumbuhl, and Zummel, which all have similar etymologies to the original spelling and can be found in German phonebooks to this day.
Famous people with the name Zumbühl
- Fritz Zumbühl: Swiss skier and Olympian.
- Octave Zumbühl: Swiss genetics professor.
- Max Zumbühl: Swiss astronomer and president of the Swiss Physical Society.
- Hans Zumbühl: Swiss engineer and professor.
- Paul Zumbühl: Swiss commemoration officer.
- Marc Zumbühl: Swiss businessman and president of the Modern Language Association of Switzerland.
- Maria Zumbühl: Swiss baroque artist.
- Ruth Zumbühl: Swiss sports journalist.
- Alexandre Zumbühl: Swiss head of the Classical Philology Department.
- Anton Zumbühl: Swiss research scientist.