What is the national orgin of the last name Melchior? My grandmother said it was Scottish but I not sure.?

Question

What is the national orgin of the last name Melchior? My grandmother said it was Scottish but I not sure.?

Answer 1

I searched nationaltrustnames.org.uk.... this is british, and it did not consider the name significant.

Ancestry.com censuses had just a few families in all of britain with this exact surname (some moved from germany or denmark).  I didn't check similar names.

Malchar/Malcher/etc. exist alternately.

Answer 2

Melchior is a biblical name and I have ever only heard it used as a surname or last name in Danish or German contexts.

Being biblical, it might very well have Jewish origin.

On the other hand, it might have been shortened from the Italianate Melchiorre. Remember - during wars and other political upheavals, people in the past would alter their surnames to suit the prevalent politics of their area.

Good luck

Answer 3

I have seen it used as Hebrew, German and Dutch.

Answer 4

Confusion about where names "come from" is a really common thing.  One reason is that a family can have very strong Scottish (or other) heritage.. but when doing research, it can turn out that the Scottish heritage comes through the wife/mother.. I am only using Scottish for example.  

You can see from the other answers that the actual name is connected with MANY "origins".. what that tells you is not that one is right/wrong.. it is found in different places.

What is needed is to DISCONNECT from the idea that a name is proof of where your ancestry comes from.  You have 16 gr gr grandparents; and since the women have maiden names (indication of their parentage), you quickly can realize that there are 16 different surnames. ONLY ONE is going to be Melchior.  The other 15 are different.. and of the 15, all could come from Scotland, while the name that comes down through the paternal side.. can belong to a husband who was not.  The easiest way to imagine how this happens is Mr Melchior was born elsewhere, his parents immgrated to Scotland.. and all his children/grandchildren are born there. That would make grandma correct that the FAMILY is Scottish.. but has nothing to do with the name origin.

Your only reliable and factual way to know about the ancestors, is to trace the persons, including (grandpa) Melchior. That is how you find where his own origins came from.. as well as all the other ancestors. Without doing that.. any "info" on the name origin is meaningless.

Answer 5

I found this on www.ancestry.com

Melchior Name Meaning and History

German, Danish, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and French: from the personal name Melchior (a derivative of Hebrew melech ‘king’ + or ‘light’, ‘splendor’). This was in use as a slightly unusual personal name throughout the Middle Ages, having been ascribed in popular Christian tradition to one of the Magi. The surname is also borne by Ashkenazic Jews, in which case it is an adoption of the German surname.

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

This is a likely explanation of the origin of the name Melchior, but unless you trace your lineage back, you cannot be certain about your own family origin.

Melchior

Recorded in several spelling forms including Malcher, Malsher, Melcher, Melchior, Melchiore, Melchiorre, Melchor, Melker, and possibly others, this is a medieval surname which can be English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. There are at least three possible origins, quite removed from each other, although over the centuries as the name has moved about, spellings and origins have become "fused". That aside the first origin is from the biblical name Melchior, the original name holder being one of the Magi, with Casper and Balthazar, although the original popularity in Europe would seem to owe more to a 6th century German king, known as the king of Light, because of his even handedness. The second origin is occupational from milc, a nickname for a dairy farmer, whilst the third is from the French maleterre meaning poor or swampy ground, and hence describing one who lived at such a place. Early examples of English recordings taken from surviving church registers include Robert Malcher who married Ann Slany at the church of St Martin Orgar in the city of London, on April 16th 1592, and Elizabeth Melchior who married Robert Clark at the famous church of St Mary-le-Bone, also city of London, on October 12th 1686.