What's up with my last name?

Question

My last name is Soderburg (obviously german), and my dad told me that it means "Castle Soder." Does that mean that if I went to Germany I would be able to find a castle or family with the name "Soder"? That was a stab in the dark.

Answer 1

I looked all over the net and I find a meaning for the surname "Soderburg"

In German the word "Burg" means town.

I can't find a "Castle Soder" either, but that doesn't mean that there isn't one or that at one time there had been one.

Here is a web site with castles in Germany

http://www.roadstoruins.com/directory.html

The best way I know for you to learn about your roots is to:

Build your family tree on line.
You can use a paid site like:
http://www.ancestry.com/

OR You can do this for free on:

http://www.tribalpages.com/

Start with yourself, and then attach living family members.
Find out all you can about you family from living members, then attach it to your tree.
Now it is time to look for historical records and attach the info to your tree:

It is ALL about census records, and other historical records!

You might get lucky and others may have done some work on your family tree. Google family members names i.e. "Mary Smith" + "family tree"

Free sites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=27399&o_lid=27399

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.findagrave.com/

Genealogy message board:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/messageboards/newguide/?board=history

http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ab-genealogy&nav=messages&lgnF=y&msg=90.1

http://boards.ancestry.com/

http://www.gensource.com/common/search.cfm

http://messages.yahoo.com/yahoo/Family___Home/Genealogy/

http://genforum.genealogy.com/

http://www.genealogyforum.com/messages/

http://www.progenealogists.com/messageboards.htm

http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/boards.php?boardId=56406&func=2&channel=aol+research+and+learn&refresh=true

http://boards.rootsweb.com/

ECT.
The time may come when you want more information than you can find for free. When this happens you can back up your "tribalpage" tree to your computer on a "GEDCOM" file
you can then go to (I think it is the best subscription site)

http://www.ancestry.com/

Upload your "GEDCOM" file
and start to work!
You might need to make a few adjustments to your tree to make it look better.

Answer 2

Actually your name looks more danish or dutch to me then German. The word burg did have the original meaning of fortress but by the middle ages( when last names really started coming into more common use) the word had morphed to take on the meaning of fortified town and more simply town so it is possible that your last name means you originated from a town named soder but a castle soder is certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

Answer 3

Place of
Origin Soderburg Immigrants
Sweden 8
Germany 1
England 1
Denmark 1
www.ancestry.com

Answer 4

Would you be related to this lady?? Her wedding announcement was found at www.usgennet.org/usa/wi/county/clark/webbs/records/index.cgi?read=3767:

---------Soderburg, Emma (Marriage - 11 OCT 1902)

Miss Emma Soderburg, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Aug. Soderburg, and Otto Glashof of the town of Worden, Clark Co., Wis., were united in marriage by Rev. J. B. Bachman at the residence of the bride's parents on Saturday afternoon Oct. 11, 1902. A large number of relatives and friends were present to witness the ceremony and a number of handsome and useful presents were bestowed upon the newly wedded pair. In the evening all repaired to Waldorf's hall to dance and enjoy the occasion in social intercourse.


(Couldn't find out anything about castles in Germany, but there is a Soderburg listed in Sweden).

Soder (Swedish: South)--from www.dictionary.com/encyclopedia


www.houseofnames.com tells of the Soderberg name and its spelling variations, and says the name originated in Holland (shows the Dutch coat of arms), and spread into Sweden, etc. In the early days in the US people often took the Dutch language to be German, and vice versa.

Answer 5

Possibly. If so it might have been owned by an ancestor at one time.

Or it might not have anything at all to do with your family except you had an ancestor that lived in the vicinity of the castle and people who lived in the vicinity of the castle took the name of the castle.

Also see the links below

http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerpsst.cfm

http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Faq.htm

Beware of House of Names.