Luhman or Luhmann?

Throughout these pages, the names Luhman and Luhmann will be used. People will be referred to by the name they used throughout their lifetime. Birth and death certificates, tombstones, Social Security Records, and other documents all helped to put an end to the confusion about how a particular person spelled their name. I have no idea why August and some of his children spelled their names Luhman while his son Robert H. (my great-grandfather) spelled it Luhmann. Robert had two children, Robert F. and Ewald. While my grandfather, Ewald, also spelled it Luhmann, his own brother's Social Security records show that he and his wife spelled their name Luhman. Although family members have told me that Robert F. would not have spelled his name with only one 'n', I am continuing to spell the names the way that they are spelled on government documents.

Luhman and Luhmann are not very common names, and I have not found any other people with this name in Michigan, although if you look in a phone book in Minnesota you will see a lot of them! I was curious as to how many people actually have this name, and this is what I came up with:

The graph on the left shows the occurrence of the name Luhman in the United States from the 1990 census, and the graft on the right shows the occurrence of the name Luhmann. The spelling with one 'n' is much more common than with two. (Click on the maps to get a larger view).

How common is our name, anyway?

Smith is the 1st most popular last name (surname) in the United States; frequency is 1.006%; percentile is 1.006

Luhman is the 23,626th most popular last name (surname) in the United States; frequency is 0.000%; percentile is 79.567

Luhmann is the 40,037th most popular last name (surname) in the United States; frequency is 0.000%; percentile is 84.107

Zeckzer is the 75,794th most popular last name (surname) in the United States; frequency is 0.000%; percentile is 89.242

If anyone knows the meaning of the name Luhman/Luhmann, please email me at [email protected]. I have had no luck finding out where this name originated or what it means, although I was told by one person (named Luhmann) that they believe it comes from the River Lühe in Germany. I have verified that this area does exist and is located near Berlin.

-- Carrie Luhmann Pieniozek