Meaning Of The Dauth Surname
"Ruler of the People” "Keeper of the Keys"
In the United States the last name Dauth is a very rare name, with less than 200 people reporting it in the 2010 census.1https://projects.newsday.com/databases/long-island/census-last-names/?where=name^dauth&offset=0 Growing up, my teachers would stumble over its pronunciation saying “da-ooo-th” instead of “daw-th” and other students would often comment on its uniqueness. But it does have its benefits. As far as I know, I am the only “Nathaniel Dauth” on earth, which makes it easy for people to find me. And if I need to make a username I can always just use my name.
The peculiarity of the name Dauth has always made me want to understand it, but for years I searched in vain. It was just recently that I stumbled across a publication that provided an answer:
Dauth German: variant of Daut.2Hanks, Patrick. (2022). Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press.
– Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd Edition (2022)
The “Dictionary of American Family Names” just this year added an entry for the name Dauth. It’s a very short entry that simply states that it is a “variant of Daut.” Much like how many names today have unique variations in spelling, Dauth is in itself a variation of the more popular German name Daut.
A brief look at the name Daut on the varioius genealogical websites yields its earliest recorded use to 1534 in Frankfurt, Germany.3“Deutschland, ausgewählte evangelische Kirchenbücher 1500-1971,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP23-PPX5 : 24 October 2021), Katherina Daut in entry for Hans Daut, 13 Dec 1534; images digitized and records extracted by Ancestry; citing Baptism, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen-Nassau, Preußen, Deutschland, Frankfurt, German Lutheran Collection, various parishes, Germany. This is 44 years before the earliest mention of the Dauth surname, which also just happens to be from the same city of Frankfurt.4“Deutschland, ausgewählte evangelische Kirchenbücher 1500-1971,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPF4-P3S6 : 26 October 2021), Dauth, 19 Apr 1578; images digitized and records extracted by Ancestry; citing Burial, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen-Nassau, Preußen, Deutschland, Frankfurt, German Lutheran Collection, various parishes, Germany.
When looking up the name Daut, the Dictionary of American Family Names states:
Daut (129) Dutch and German: from a much reduced short form of the personal name Diederik (See DEDERICK) (Dutch) or DIETRICH (German).5Hanks, Patrick. (2003). Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press.
– Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)
Daut is a nickname for Dietrich. While not obviously related, it is believable that the name Dietrich could be shorthanded to its first syllable Diet which in turn became Daut. There are much stranger nicknames out there such as Bill for Williams or Dick for Richard, so Daut for Dietrich does not seem to be to much of a stretch.
When looking up the name Dietrich, the Dictionary of American Family Names states:
Dietrich (6755) German: from the Germanic personal name Tederich (Theudoricus), composed of the elements theud ‘people’, ‘race’ + ric ‘power(ful)’, ‘rich’. This surname is common throughout central and eastern Europe, particularly in the western Slavic countries. The forename occurs in a wide variety of local forms, especially in northern Germany. It is cognate with Dutch Diederick (see DEDERICK).6Hanks, Patrick. (2003). Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press.
– Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)
Dietrich is an alternate spelling for Tederich which in turn is a nickname for Theudoricus. Theudoricus can be broken down into the german words theud and ric. Theud is the German word for people or race. Ric is the German word for rich, powerful, or ruler. The summarized etymology of the Dauth name is as follows:
Theud + Ric > Theudoricus > Tederich > Dietricht > Daut > Dauth
In German vernacular the words Theud and Ric together literally mean:
“Ruler of the People”7Wikipedia contributors. (2022, December 31). Dietrich. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich
But colloquially the words together are best understood in English as:
“Keeper of the Keys”8Wikipedia contributors. (2022, December 31). Dietrich. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich
Or in a more general sense: