The associated coat of arms for this name are recorded in J.B Rietstaps Armorial General. Illustrated by V & H.V Rolland's. This Monumental work took 23 years to complete and 85,000 coats of Arms are included in this work. This German, Polish and Ashkenazic Jewish surname of STOLTENBERG is an occupational name for a joiner. The name was derived from the Old Polish word STOLARZ. The name is also spelt STOLL, STOLARZ, STOLIAR, STOLLER, STOLERSKY, STOLBURG, STOLBERG and STOLTBERG. Many of the modern family names throughout Europe reflect the profession or occupation of their forbears in the Middle Ages and derive from the position held by their ancestors in the village, noble household or religious community in which they lived and worked. The addition of their profession to their birth name made it easier to identify individual tradesmen and craftsmen. As generations passed and families moved around, so the original identifying names developed into the corrupted but simpler versions that we recognise today. Notables of the name include Christian, Count of STOLBERG (1748-1821) the German poet, born in Hamburg. He was one of the Gottingen poet band and was in the public service of Holstein. Besides writing poems, he translated Sophocles. Friedrich Leopold, Count of STOLBERG (1750-1819) was the German poet, brother of Christian. He was also a member of the Gottingen school, and was in the Danish service (1789-1800). He became a Catholic and published a history of Christianity. He produced poems, dramas and translations from the Greek. Surnames which were derived from ancient Germanic personal names have the same meaning in many languages. The court of Charlemagne (Charles the Great, king of the Franks (742-814) was Christian and Latin speaking). The vernacular was the Frankish dialect of Old High German, and the personal names in use were Germanic and vernacular. These names were adopted in many parts of northwest Europe, particularly among the noble ruling classes. Hereditary surnames were found in Germany in the second half of the 12th century - a little later than in England and France. It was about the 16th century that they became stabilized. |
