What ethnic background does the family name koppenhofer come from?

Question

My husband thinks that we have some polish somewhere in his family so I am trying to find it if any.

Answer 1

I'm not finding it on any of the usual surname origin sites, but I did find this message on a genealogy message board:

Jacob Koppenhofer, b. 1827 Frankenstein, Pfalz, Bavaria. Came to US abt. 1849 with brother-in-law Andreas Nabinger. Lived a few years in New York State then believed to have moved to Wisconsin.

The link to the above is:  http://genforum.genealogy.com/koppenhofe...

You might consider posting a message on that board, or contacting one of the 2 people who already have...

Hope that helps, good luck!

Answer 2

german

Answer 3

It sounds like it comes from a Germanic language.

Answer 4

German, but that doesn't mean his koppenhofer ancestor wasn't from Poland or didn't have part Polish ancestry.  Germany wasn't a nation until the end of the 19th century.  It was a bunch of little kingdoms, states etc.  Poland at one time ruled a good part of Eastern Europe. Then Poland went into decline and was divided between Prussia, Russia and Austria.  

There were boundary changes through Europe.