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History of the name


The history of the name is interpreted differently.
Some said, it is named after the earlier occupation of the
weaver of linen, in german "Lein(wand)weber", others think,
that it is related to the profession of brickmakers.
And some others think that it is related to the inhabitance, because

Wand / Wandt / Want

in the Eichsfeld settled at first at the little hill "Sonnenstein"
-on the wall (in german: Wand)-

Ms. Dr. Elisabeth Wand writes in her book about the history of the name Wand.
She found out, that the name comes from a old heathenish
pre-christian priest-ancestry.
The name of the sign of his authority and the carrier of this stick was "wand".
In english speaking areas "wand" even toady means "(magic) wand".
( ISBN 3-923 453 25-6, Titel: Vom Gottesstab zum Zauberstab )

Certainly all can be right, but I can not trust any of them.
I myself have no better theory.

Fact is, that

Wand / Wandt / Want

had their home for some centuries in the thuringian
und lower-saxonian Eichsfeld.
The first appearance of the name I know, came from the 15th century.

In the hessian community Rambach a man was named Michell Wandt as person,
who had to pay taxes in the year 1421 in Rambach.

The name Wand(t) was / is often to find in the Eichsfeld and during the years many families were formed, which spread later in whole Germany.
I marked the most important and largest branches in the Middle Ages on the card of Germany.
The spelling of the name often changed.

The same persons in the church books are spelled
Want / Wand / or Wandt.
These different spellings came from the missing knowledge of writing of the people.

The old priests had often written down the names how they wanted.
In 1874 the registry office set a constant spelling all over the country. Now every changing of a person - birth, marriage, death -, had to be written in a document by a registry office.