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The termvon ([fɔn]ⓘ) is used inGerman surnames either as anobiliary particle indicating a noblepatrilineality, or as a simplepreposition used by commoners that means'of' or'from'.
Nobility directories like theAlmanach de Gotha often abbreviate the noble termvon tov. In medieval or early modern names, thevon particle was at times added to commoners' names; thus,Hans von Duisburg meant'Hans from [the city of]Duisburg'. This meaning is preserved in Swisstoponymic surnames and in theDutchvan, which is acognate ofvon but also does not necessarily indicate nobility.
The abolition of themonarchies inGermany andAustria in 1919 meant that neither state has a privileged nobility, and both have exclusivelyrepublican governments.
In Germany, this means that legallyvon simply became an ordinary part of the surnames of the people who used it. There are no longer any legal privileges or constraints associated with this naming convention. According to German alphabetical sorting, people withvon in their surnames – of noble or non-noble descent alike – are listed intelephone books and other files under the rest of their names (e.g., the economistLudwig von Mises would have been found underM in the phone book rather thanV).
In Austria, in contrast, not only were the privileges of the nobility abolished, theirtitles and prepositions were abolished as well in 1919. Thus, for example,Friedrich von Hayek became simplyFriedrich Hayek. (See alsoAustrian nobility on this issue.)
In contrast to the peerage of the United Kingdom, the aristocracies of the German-speaking countries were held to include untitled nobility, although the names of nearly all the families falling into this category did includevon,zu,von und zu,von der,von dem,zum,vom und zum orzur.
The preposition originated among German speakers during theMiddle Ages and was commonly used to signify a person's origins, appending the name of the place they originated from (seetoponymic surname), or the name of their parents, as the concept of a surname did not start to come into common usage until later on.
Nevertheless, it was mostly aristocrats and other land owners who acquired a surname consisting ofvon,zu orzur and atoponym. When families were raised to nobility later on, the prefix was added in front of their existing name whatever its source, e.g.von Goethe. In some cases, even an existing non-noblevon became noble, or vice versa, therefore the same surname sometimes would be shared by noble and non-noble individuals.
Especially in the Northwest (Bremen, Hamburg, Holstein, Lower Saxony, Schleswig, Westphalia) and in German-speaking Switzerland,von is a frequent element in non-noble surnames.[1] About 200 to 300 known non-noble surnames contain the elementvon.[1] On the other hand, especially in Lower Saxony, several prominent noble surnames do not contain the particlevon, e.g.Grote [de],Knigge [de] orVincke.[2]
In order to distinguish the noblevon from the non-noble one, the Prussian military abbreviated it tov. in noble names, often without a space following it, whereas the non-noblevon was always spelled in full.[2] In the 19th century in Austria and Bavaria, non-noble surnames containingvon were widely altered by compounding it with the main surname element, such asvon Werden → Vonwerden.[1]
"Untitled" and "non-noble" are not synonyms in the German-speaking world. However, most German nobles usedvon and most users ofvon were noble. Nonetheless, desiring to add cachet to their perceived lineages in the era since titles of nobility were abolished, some individuals of no titled descent chose to add the particle to their name, such as movie directorsJosef von Sternberg,Erich von Stroheim, andLars von Trier.
Some very old noble families, usually members of theUradel, bear surnames without the rather young nobiliary particlevon but are nevertheless still noble.
Also, a very few German families were elevated to the nobility without use of the prepositionvon. This was the case of theRiedeselFreiherren zu Eisenbach who received baronial dignity in 1680.
In order to distinguish themselves from bearers of regionally frequent non-noble surnames containingvon, nobles in Northern Germany continue the royal Prussian military practice of abbreviating the noblevon tov. but spelling the non-noblevon in full.[2]
Generally, the growth of theTsardom of Russia into theRussian Empire was accompanied by the inflow of German surnames. Two main channels of such migration were the absorption of territories where Germans constituted a part of local nobility, such asFinland,Poland, and theBaltic region, and the state-supported immigration of Germans into Russia, such as theVolga Germans.
As a rule, the members of the local nobility who found themselves in Russia as a result of geopolitical shifts preserved their privileges in the Empire. Their surnames were listed in the State Register of Noble Families as soon as the required documents were provided. The particlevon was preserved as well; oncehyphens came into common use in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was used to connect thevon with the following part of the surname (e.g.Russian:Фон-Визин, von-Wiesen). However, since the twentieth century the particle has been written separately, as in the German origin. In the Baltic region, the German language continued to be used alongside Russian, so the language environment was friendly enough there to keep these surnames from localisation.
Meanwhile, some of those whose ancestors individually entered the Russian service from abroad, and who settled themselves in Moscow or the core Russian provinces, sooner or later found it easier to adjust their surnames to the local speaking mode. However, unlike immigrants to English-speaking countries during the 18th to 20th centuries, who usually lost their nobility particles and often simplified andanglicised the remaining parts of their surnames, immigrants to the Tsarist and Imperial Russia did not lose their noble particles, although some of their core surnames may have experienced some minor changes.
At the end of the 16th century, after theLivonian War,Ivan IV of Russia invited Baron Berndt von Wiesen (German pronunciation:[fɔnviːzən]) from theLivonian Brothers of the Sword into Russian service and granted him somelanded property. In the 17th century his descendants wrote their surnames as Russian:Фон Висин (which preserved the German spelling rather than theRussian pronunciation:[fɐnˈvʲisʲɪn]).c. 1660 one of them added-ov (Russian:Фон Висинов,Russian pronunciation:[fɐnˈvʲisʲɪnəf]), yet in the 18th century this suffix was lost, and the middle consonant changed agains→z (Russian:Фон-Визин, which preserves the German pronunciation rather than spelling:Russian pronunciation:[fɐnˈvʲizʲɪn]). Finally, in the 18th centuryIvan Fonvizin decided to merge the particlevon with the core, thus giving a start to a new Russian family of German origin. His son,Denis Fonvizin (Russian:Фонви́зин,Russian pronunciation:[fɐnˈvʲizʲɪn]) became a playwright whose plays are staged today.
In theNordic countries,von is common but not universal in the surnames of noble families of German origin and has occasionally been used as a part of names of ennobled families of native or foreign (but non-German) extraction, as with the family of the philosopherGeorg Henrik von Wright, which is ofScottish origin, or as with the family of the painterCarl Frederik von Breda, who was ofDutch ancestry.
InDenmark, from the1770s it became standard practice for every Danishmilitary officer to put "von" in front of his surname. "Von" in this context can be said to be a characteristic of thenobility of the sword – a class that was not otherwise represented in Denmark. This practice was inspired by the Prussian military, where most officers belonged to thelanded gentry. The use of von became so widespread that government authorities used it in official letters, but it never received any real recognition.
The German dictionaryDuden recommends capitalizing the prefixvon at the beginning of the sentence, but not in its abbreviated form, in order to avoid confusion with an abbreviated first name. However the SwissNeue Zürcher Zeitungstyle guide recommends omitting thevon completely at the beginning of the sentence.[3]
Examples, meaning "Von Humboldt came later.":