Top 50 Most Common Swiss Mennonite Surnames

The Daily Bonnet doesn’t want to leave anyone out. After compiling a list of the most common Russian Mennonite surnames, there were numerous requests to make a Swiss Mennonite list. The problem was I didn’t have access to a Lancaster phone book. However, what I did have was the Mennonite Church USA directory of ministers. So, I went through the entire directory and tallied up the surnames. Here you go: the top 50 most common Swiss Mennonite surnames! Did your name make the top 50?

Rank. Surname – Number of entries in directory

  1. Miller – 67
  2. Yoder – 62
  3. Weaver/Weber – 45
  4. Horst/Hurst – 28
  5. Kauffman(n) – 25
  6. Hostett(l)er/Hochstetter – 24
  7. Good – 21
  8. Shenk – 21
  9. Brubach(k)er – 19
  10. Landes/Landis – 17
  11. Zehr – 17
  12. Gerber/Garber – 16
  13. Roth – 16
  14. Ma(u)st – 15
  15. Lehman – 14
  16. Wenger – 14
  17. Stoltzfus – 14
  18. Bontrager – 12
  19. Burkholder – 12
  20. Gingrich – 12
  21. Peachey/Beachy – 11
  22. Schrock/Schrag – 11
  23. Zimmerman(n) – 11
  24. Bender – 10
  25. Hershberger – 10
  26. Martin – 10
  27. Troyer – 10
  28. Hoover – 9
  29. Kreider – 9
  30. Witmer – 9
  31. Nafziger – 9
  32. Nissley/Nisly – 9
  33. Sauder/Souder – 9
  34. Kennel – 8
  35. Schwartzent(d)ruber – 8
  36. Byler – 7
  37. Kanagy – 7
  38. Kraybill/Krehbiel – 7
  39. Liechty/Lichti – 7
  40. Nolt – 7
  41. Sensenig – 7
  42. Amstutz – 6
  43. Smucker/Smoker – 6
  44. Stutzman – 6
  45. Snyder – 6
  46. Rohrer – 6
  47. Shantz/Schantz – 6
  48. Schowalter – 6
  49. Stauffer – 5
  50. Zook – 5

(photo credit: Richard Elzey/CC)

Police Seize Massive Stockpile of Knitted Hangers
Mennonite Protestors Demand Their 'Second Commandment Rights'