ORIGIN OF NAME - VERSION 1
FANKHAUSER: TRUB. Fankhaus is the place name of a farm. The German verb fangen means to catch. This house is catched, that is to say surrounded by hills and forest, enclosed territory. - By Delbert Gratz
ORIGIN OF NAME - VERSION 2
Heinz Fankhauser from Burgdorf...
When fall comes, the farmers have to drive their animals down from the high pastures for the winter. There must have been some sort of stockade (or corrall) in Fankhaus Graben which pinned the cows and/or sheep and/or goats in until the various owners could sort out which belonged to whom. There must have been a house there for the fellow who maintained it.
ORIGIN OF NAME - VERSION 3
Contributed by Frieda Funkhouser Wilson - FUNKHOUSER A SWISS-AMERICAN GENEALOGY (1364-1978) Copyright 1978
...at the turn of the century the circulated story was that one of the Fankhauser ancestors "was an inspector of a prison or guard of prisoners. This story has been refuted. Cousin Hans Fankhauser says there are no jails or prisons in Trub for the one thing. Instead the name Fankhauser comes from the verb 'fangen' meaning 'to catch' (the bears). A 'fang' was a large pit for trapping the bears and other wild animals that threatened the crops and livestock of the families who lived in this valley in the Middle Ages. The trap tender lived in a 'Fanghus.' As a small community grew there, it took the name and the families there became Fankhausers."