Scharnhorst

English

Etymology

From German Scharnhorst, from Low German Scharnhorst, from Middle Low German Scharnhorst, from scharn (“dirty, damp”) + horst (“wooded hill”), from Old Saxon *skarn + hurst, from Proto-Germanic *skarną + *hursti.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɑː(ɹ)nhɔː(ɹ)st/

Proper noun

Scharnhorst (countable and uncountable, plural Scharnhorsts)

1. Several locations in northern Germany.
2. A habitational surname from German, born by a famous 19th-century Prussian general and military theoreticist.
3. Several German ships named after the general, including a Kriegsmarine capital ship which participated in WWII.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Scharnhorst is the 40371^st most common surname in the United States, belonging to 542 individuals. Scharnhorst is most common among and White (93.91%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Scharnhorst”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.