History of the Klemmer Surname

It was not until the Middle Ages that surnames were first introduced to distinguish between people bearing the same personal or Christian names. With the growth in documentation necessitated by the expanding administrations of medieval rulers who were eager to replenish their exchequers by improving their tax collection system, such surnames became essential.

There are two possible sources for the name, Klemmer. It may be of nickname origin; in the Middle Ages, in the days before the hereditary surname system evolved, it was common practice for a man to be given a nickname by his neighbors, in order that he might be more easily identified. Klemmer was a north German expression for a miser!

The second possibility is that the name is of occupational origin. In this instance the name would first have been applied to one who worked with clay. "Klemer" was the Middle High German term for the trade.

Records of the surname in Germany date back as far as the fourteenth century. In 1350, Sigfrid der Klemmer and Hainrich Klemmerlin were registered in the town of Eltingen in the Leonberg district (Altwurttembergische Urbare).

Like many German names, the Klemmer name has undergone several spelling changes throughout its history. The earliest spelling derivation from Alsace Lorraine was "Klemayr". After the family fled to Zurich, Switzerland to avoid the Catholic persecutions of France, the surname was commonly spelled "Klymmer". "Klemmer" was and still is the prevailing spelling in Germany and to a lesser extent the United States. By the early 1800s, many Klemmer settlers in the United States had anglicized their last name to heighten economic opportunities in the new nation. World War I brought unjust persecution on German-Americans, forcing more Klemmers to make the switch to the "Clemmer" spelling. Today in the U.S., Clemmers outnumber their Klemmer brethren 4 to 1.

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