Rumänische Suffixnamen auf -ean(u) in Deutschland
Romanian Surnames with the Suffix -ean(u) in Germany

Summary/Abstract: This study aims to document Romanian surnames in Germany derived with the suffix -ean(u), starting from the telephone database of Deutsche Telekom from 2005. The morphological contrast between the variants that take an article and the ones that do not shows their similar distribution on the map, specifically in southern and western Germany, in the states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hessen and North Rhine-Westphalia, in the areas of important industrial and university centres such as Munich, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Ingolstadt, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Mannheim and Frankfurt. This picture of the spread of Romanian surnames derived with the suffix -ean(u) is similar to that of the surnames ending in -escu, as well as to that of other foreign surnames, such as the Turkish, Italian, Portuguese or Greek ones, which proves the settlement of immigrants in the same highly industrialized areas of Germany. The most frequent surnames ending in -ean(u) in Germany are Muntean(u) (88+80), Ardelean(u) (65+14), Mărginean (23), Ungurean(u) (21+31), C(î|â)mpean(u) (18+11), Oltean(u) (12+22).Historically, the Romanian names derived with the suffix -ean(u) appear in the 15th century (e.g. Coman Făgărășanul 1437–1446), are derived from toponyms and indicate the place of origin of the first named. The onomastic suffix -ean(u), of Slavic origin, is present in all historical Romanian provinces, theform -ean, with no article, being much more frequent in Transylvania.

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