Meyer (surname)
Meyer is a surname of English, Dutch, German, or Jewish origin or ancestry. Many branches of the Meyer family trace their origins to ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. The name can be derived from the Old English name "Maire", meaning "Mayor", or an officer in charge of legal matters. The name can also be derived from the German word "meiger", meaning "Mayor"; the name likely traces its origins to a wealthy landholder. There are various names that are connected by cognation in many instances. Among German Jews, the European surname "Meyer" can sometimes be converged with the similar sounding, though etymologically unconnected, Hebrew name "Meir", which means "one who shines" in Hebrew.
Geographical distribution
As of 2014, 41.3% of all known bearers of the surname Meyer were residents of Germany, 26.7% of the United States, 11.6% of South Africa, 7.6% of France, 3.4% of Switzerland, 1.4% of Brazil and 1.0% of Canada.In Germany, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following states:
- 1. Lower Saxony
- 2. Bremen
- 3. Hamburg
- 4. Schleswig-Holstein
- 5. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- 6. Saxony-Anhalt
People
- Adolf Meyer , German architect
- Adolf Bernhard Meyer German ornithologist
- Albert Gregory Meyer, Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago
- Albert Meyer , Swiss politician
- Alfred Meyer, German Nazi official
- Anita Meyer, Dutch singer
- Anthony Meyer, British soldier, diplomat, and Conservative Party politician
- Antoine Meyer, Belgian mathematician
- Axel Meyer, German evolutionary biologist
- Bernard F. Meyer, American Catholic missionary to China
- Bernard S. Meyer, New York judge
- Bernhard Meyer, German physician and naturalist
- Bertrand Meyer, French computer scientist, designed the Eiffel programming language
- Bill Meyer , Australian artist
- Birgit Meyer, Dutch religious studies scholar
- Bob Meyer, American baseball player
- Breckin Meyer, U.S. actor and producer
- Bunny Meyer, U.S. YouTube Vlogger
- Cameron Meyer, Australian professional racing cyclist
- Christian Meyer
- Christopher Meyer, former British Ambassador to the U.S.
- Colleen Meyer, American politician and businesswoman
- Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Swiss poet and writer
- Cord Meyer, member of a wealthy New York family, served with the United States Marine Corps in World War II, a US Central Intelligence Agency official, and was married to Mary Pinchot Meyer.
- Dakota Meyer, U.S. Medal of Honor recipient
- Daniel P. Meyer, a federal whistleblowing advocate
- Debbie Meyer, U.S. Olympic swimmer
- Dina Meyer, U.S. actor
- Dirk Meyer, U.S. microprocessor designer
- Don Meyer, American basketball coach
- Drew Meyer, American baseball player
- Dutch Meyer, American college sports coach
- Edgar Meyer, U.S. double bassist
- Eduard Meyer, German historian
- Edward C. Meyer U.S. Army General, former Army Chief of Staff
- Eliza Meyer, Australian Mayor & classic beauty
- Eric Meyer, various people
- Ernest Meyer,, French equestrian
- Ernst Heinrich Friedrich Meyer, German botanist and historian of botany
- Ernst Hermann Meyer, German composer, pianist, and musicologist
- Eugene Meyer , U.S. public official and newspaper publisher
- Florence Meyer, American portrait photographer
- Frank Meyer , U.S. conservative political philosopher
- Franz Sales Meyer, German painter and writer, known for A Handbook of Ornament
- Fred Meyer, American politician
- Fred G. Meyer, U.S. retailer
- Frederick Brotherton Meyer, British Baptist preacher
- Fritz Meyer, Swiss founder of Roamer watch company
- George Meyer U.S. TV comedy writer
- George Meyer, American soccer coach
- George von Lengerke Meyer, U.S. Secretary of the Navy
- Greg Meyer, American long-distance runner
- Gwendolyn Sontheim Meyer, Cargill heiress and equestrian
- Hajo Meyer, German-Dutch physicist and Jewish political activist
- Hannes Meyer, Swiss architect and director of the Bauhaus
- Hans Meyer, Austrian geographer and mountaineer
- Hans Horst Meyer, German physician and pharmacologist
- Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, German Protestant pastor and theologian
- Henry Meyer
- Heyneke Meyer, South African rugby union coach
- Hubert Meyer, German Waffen-SS officer
- Ilan Meyer, American psychiatric epidemiologist
- Jack Meyer, Educator and Cricketer
- Jacob O. Meyer, Directing Elder of the Assemblies of Yahweh
- Jean Jacques Meyer, French locomotive designer
- Jessica Kate Meyer, American actress and rabbi
- Joachim Meyer, German fencer, wrote Fundamental Descriptions of the Art of Fencing
- Joe-Fio Neenyann Meyer, Ghanaian diplomat
- Johan Meyer, German-born pioneer of the Queensland Gold Coast
- Johan Meyer, South African rugby union player
- Johannes Meyer , Danish film actor
- John Meyer
- John C. Meyer, U.S. air force officer
- Joseph A. Meyer, American college sports coach
- Joseph Meyer , German industrialist and publisher
- Joseph Meyer , American songwriter
- Joyce Meyer, U.S. Christian Charismatic speaker and writer
- Julius Lothar Meyer, German chemist
- Karl Meyer, American pacifist, activist, Catholic worker and tax resister
- Karl E. Meyer, American journalist
- Karl Friedrich Meyer, Swiss-born American pathologist
- Kenneth J. Meyer, American politician
- Kerstin Meyer, Swedish mezzo-soprano
- Kirstine Meyer, Danish physicist
- Klaus Meyer German football player
- Krzysztof Meyer, Polish composer
- Kurt Meyer , Swiss politician
- Kurt Meyer , German officer in the Waffen-SS
- Laurenz Meyer, German politician
- Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer
- Léon Meyer, French politician
- Léone-Noëlle Meyer, French businesswoman and philanthropist
- Lodewijk Meyer, Dutch physician, classical scholar, translator, lexicographer, and playwright
- Lucy Rider Meyer, American educator, physician, author, and social worker
- Lyndsay Meyer, US-American ski mountaineer.
- Marany Meyer, South African and New Zealand chess player.
- Mark Meyer , U.S. politician
- Marc Eugene Meyer, U.S. businessman
- Marshall Meyer, U.S. rabbi and human rights activist
- Mary Eno Pinchot Meyer, an American painter. daughter of Amos Pinchot and Ruth Pickering Pinchot, former wife of Cord Meyer, and romantic partner of President John F. Kennedy. Her murder officially remains unsolved and some suspected CIA involvement.
- Mary Meyer, Dutch fencer
- Maud Meyer Sierra Leonean Nigerian singer
- Max Meyer, several people
- Michele Meyer, American politician
- Miriah Meyer, American computer scientist
- Morgan Meyer, lawyer and state representative from Dallas County, Texas
- Nathan Meyer, South African paralympian
- Nicholas Meyer, U.S. film-maker
- Paul Meyer , French philologist
- Paul-André Meyer, French mathematician
- Philipp Meyer American author
- Philipp Meyer German politician
- Ray Meyer, U.S. basketball coach
- Rémo Meyer, Swiss football player
- Robert B. Meyer, American physicist
- Roelf Meyer, former South African politician
- Russ Meyer, U.S. filmmaker
- Sabine Meyer, German clarinetist
- Sarah E. Meyer, American animation artist
- Schuyler M. Meyer, New York politician
- Scott Meyer, American author, comedian, and artist
- Selma Meyer, Dutch pacifist, feminist and resistance fighter of Jewish origin
- Stephen C. Meyer, U.S. philosopher of science and Intelligent Design proponent
- Stephenie Meyer, American author best known as creator of the Twilight series
- Sven Meyer , German footballer
- Sven Meyer
- Ted Meyer, rugby league footballer of the 1930s for New Zealand, and Northland
- Thérèse Meyer, Swiss politician
- Urban Meyer, American college football coach
- Viktor Meyer, German chemist
- Wilhelm Meyer , Danish physician, discovered adenoids and invented adenoidectomy
- William Meyer
- Wolfgang Meyer, German clarinetist and professor of clarinet
- Yves Meyer, French mathematician and scientist