Was Adolf Hitler's father the first person with the surname 'Hitler'?

[George L Gregory]

Did anybody else have the surname Hitler before Adolf Hitler's father Alois became Alois Hitler?

I'm not referring to any variations of the name but the actual surname 'Hitler'. It's not even known who chose 'Hitler' instead of 'Hiedler' for Alois.

As far as I know, even Alois's birthname Shicklgruber was uncommon.

[Carl Schwamberger]

... It's not even known who chose 'Hitler' instead of 'Hiedler' for Alois. ...

I'm not a expert on German language, but understand the difference between Hitler & Heidler could be the lettering used by the local clerks keeping the records. & then the specific dialect of the locality. One of my customers was born & lived in Germany & Switzerland from the 1930s through 1940s. Circa 2005 the German consulate in in Chicago was paying this 83 year old woman to translate into intelligible modern German documents written in the German dialects and varied lettering systems of the first half of the 20th Century. She explained to me some of the differences between the post war usage & the pre war practice. Swabian and Swiss German were the two the lecture centered on. As in the US literacy, news papers, and radio shifted & consolidated pronunciation & phonetic values of the letters during the first half of the 20th Century.

[ManfredV]

Schickelgruber/Schicklgruber is very rare but not strange in Austria.
Many of these bavarian and austrian names have their origin in one single place or from one ancestor.
Hitler - maybe a misunderstanding of Hiedler because it sounds similar in austo-bavarian dialect. Or maybe Alois thought "lets found a new family branch" .
Another Hitler before? Maybe. They had these various spellings Hüttler. Hiedler...
The same is Maier, Mayer, Mayr...
Or swiss names Huber, Huober...
Looking for another Hitler would mean a research in hundreds of old church register.
Today there's only one Hitler in german phonebook and a handful Hittler.
Hüttler and Hiedler are very rare in Austria and Germany but we have.

[George L Gregory]

German historian Peter Longerich in his book Hitler: A Biography on page 8 wrote:

In future Alois used the name Hitler, a variation of 'Hiedler' that was common in the district.

So, we know that the name 'Hiedler' and variants of it were used in parts of Austria.

British historian Ian Kershaw in the first volume Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris of his Hitler biography wrote:

It has also been claimed that the form of name chosen by Alois in 1876 -- `Hitler' -- was a deliberate reflection of `Huttler' (Nepomuk's name) rather than Hiedler (that of Johann Georg). But this would be to interpret too much from the adoption of one form of a name which remained fluid and fluctuating before the late nineteenth century. The names `Hiedler', `Hietler', `Huttler', `Hutler', and `Hitler' -- the name meant `smallholder' -- occur interchangeably in documents of the early and mid-nineteenth century and were phonetically scarcely distinguishable. Nepomuk himself was baptized `Hiedler' and married as `Huttler'. Alois, the social climber, may have preferred the less rustic form of `Hitler'. But `Hitler' may have been no more than the particular form chosen by the notary in Weitra at the legalization, and copied by the parish priest of Dollersheim the next day. Whatever the reason for the selection of the form of name, Alois seemed well satisfied with it. He thereafter never deviated in his usage of the name, and from the final authorization in January 1877 always signed himself `Alois Hitler'. His son was equally pleased with the more distinctive form `Hitler'.

So, we know that the various variants of the surname Hiedler were used, but prior to 1876, is there any evidence that anyone in the world had the surname 'Hitler'?

In 2014 there was a documentary titled Meet the Hitlers which in turn made newspapers publish articles with titles like There Are Far More People Named Hitler Than You'd Think, but the title is so misleading. The vast majority of the people featured in the documentary did not actually have the spelling 'Hitler' but variants of it.

[George L Gregory]

A person who featured in the documentary Meet the Hitlers was a man named Gene Douglas Hitler. In the documentary Gene said that his family have had the surname Hitler for hundreds of years and he refused to change his surname because that would take away his identity. Gene had a brother named Turney Gibson Hitler (1922-2009).

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/124 ... son-hitler

Their father was Turney Gay Hitler (1880-1963) and his paternal ancestors are as follows:

Thomas Ludwig Hitler (1842-1920)
Georg Hitler II (1798-1884)
Georg Hitler (1763-1818)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/578 ... rge-hitler

There is no information where Georg Hitler was born, but Georg Hitler II was born Somerset County, Pennsylvania. So, my guess is that the first Georg Hitler was from somewhere in southern Germany in either modern-day Austria or Germany and migrated to the USA.

So, no, Alois Schicklgruber (later Hitler) was not the first person with the surname Hitler.

[George L Gregory]

Find A Grave lists 80 people with the surname 'Hitler'.

Only 13 of those people (excluding Maria Schicklgruber Hitler who is listed) with the surname Hitler were born before Alois Hitler.

Georg Hitler (1763-1818)
Susannah Gay Hitler (1772-1848)
John Hitler (1783-1877)
Jacob Hitler (1796-1879)
Georg Hitler II (1798-1884)
Sarah Gougar Hitler (1802-1870)
Abraham Hitler (1803-1868)
Hannah Ludwig Hitler (1807-1863)
Joseph Hitler (1816-1899)
Eleanor Hitler (1817-1887)
Louisa A Winstead Hitler (1823-1881)
Georg Hitler (1825-1889)
Nelson Hitler (1833-1917)

[ManfredV]

Why do You want an "evidence that anyone in the world had the surname 'Hitler'"?"
Searching in hundreds or maybe thousands of church registers and other documents?
Maybe a guy was sometimes spelled Hüttler but also Hitler. Or there was a Hitler but no documents exist because they are lost?
For centuries poor farm labourers and smallholders named Hüttler or Hiedler or maybe Hitler lived in Austria and Old Bavaria. Or also spelled Hittler (there are some today). You may phone to all Hittlers, Hüttlers and Hiedlers and ask: Is there any spelling Hitler in your family tree?
What would they answer?

[George L Gregory]

The Ohio newspaper Circleville Herald published an article titled Hitlers were early pioneers:

Questions have risen from time to time about the Hitlers for whom were named Hitler Road, Hitler-Ludwig Road, Hitler-Ludwig Cemetery, Hitler Park and other places. Our Pickaway Hitlers were fine, upstanding citizens, the first of whom arrived in Pickaway Township in 1799.

Our Pickaway Hitlers were fine, upstanding citizens, the first of whom arrived in Pickaway Township in 1799. George Hitler was born May 15, 1763, in Maryland. He married Susannah Gay in Pennsylvania and they came to Pickaway with four of their children, John, Catharine, Jacob and George… Dr. Gay Hitler, son of George Washington Hitler, was a local dentist, serving our community from 1922 through 1946 from his office on West Main Street… These families were established here long before Adolf Hitler was born. They settled and served our county well.

https://www.circlevilleherald.com/news/ ... d15d5.html

I wonder, did they allow the Nazi dictator to ruin their lives after 1946?

[George L Gregory]

Why do You want an "evidence that anyone in the world had the surname 'Hitler'"?"
Searching in hundreds or maybe thousands of church registers and other documents?
Maybe a guy was sometimes spelled Hüttler but also Hitler. Or there was a Hitler but no documents exist because they are lost?
For centuries poor farm labourers and smallholders named Hüttler or Hiedler or maybe Hitler lived in Austria and Old Bavaria. Or also spelled Hittler (there are some today). You may phone to all Hittlers, Hüttlers and Hiedlers and ask: Is there any spelling Hitler in your family tree?
What would they answer?

The name 'Hitler' is much more distinctive and although people had the name before Alois Hitler and his son Adolf Hitler, the name Hitler is synonymous with Adolf Hitler. It's not a name you hear of every day. Because the name is so strongly associated with Adolf Hitler I'm sure that many people who had the name surname changed it after WW2.

I'm curious to know if there were any Hitlers in Austria and Germany prior to Alois Hitler. The ancestors of Gene Douglas Hitler had all been born in the USA for a very long time.

[ManfredV]

Im sure also some Hüttler and Hiedler changed their name. I wonder about this handful Hittler in Germany and Austria.
Probably these american Hitler have ancestors from Southern Germany, Austria or Switzerland. Hüttler, Hütter etc. but also Häusler, Hausler etc. and sometimes Sölder, Söldner, Soldner etc. were smallholders in Upper German language area.
In North German dialects they used Kötter, Kotter, Kätner etc. for those people.
By they way: we have several Himmler in Germany and Austria and some hundred Goebbels/Göbbels and Göring in Germany.
Himmler is a south german and austrian surname, Goebbels/Göbbels is mainly in Rheinland but also Ruhr area nad northern Germany. Göring is spread all over Germany but has some centres in Saxony, Thüringen and Franconia.
German linguist Jürgen Udolph does research where surname come from and what they mean. He has a little radio show "Ihr Name im Radio" where people can phone. Sometimes very funny.

[George L Gregory]

Im sure also some Hüttler and Hiedler changed their name. I wonder about this handful Hittler in Germany and Austria.
Probably these american Hitler have ancestors from Southern Germany, Austria or Switzerland. Hüttler, Hütter etc. but also Häusler, Hausler etc. and sometimes Sölder, Söldner, Soldner etc. were smallholders in Upper German language area.
In North German dialects they used Kötter, Kotter, Kätner etc. for those people.
By they way: we have several Himmler in Germany and Austria and some hundred Goebbels/Göbbels and Göring in Germany.
Himmler is a south german and austrian surname, Goebbels/Göbbels is mainly in Rheinland but also Ruhr area nad northern Germany. Göring is spread all over Germany but has some centres in Saxony, Thüringen and Franconia.
German linguist Jürgen Udolph does research where surname come from and what they mean. He has a little radio show "Ihr Name im Radio" where people can phone. Sometimes very funny.

I think you're right that the Hitlers in America if they bothered to trace their ancestors back far enough would find various spellings.

I can't think of any other Himmlers apart from those related to Heinrich Himmler. The Wikipedia article on the Himmler surname lists only those related to Heinrich Himmler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmler_(surname)

Which other famous people share the surname Himmler?

With regard to the Goebbels surname, it is normally found in western Germany. there was the German artist and priest Matthias Goebbels (1836-1911) and the Luxembourg socialist Robert Goebbels (born 1944) and German composer Heiner Goebbels (born 1952).

There are a few Görings listed on the Wikipedia article on the Göring surname.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ring_(surname)