Austrian Last Name Generator
Surnames from Alpine farms to old imperial Vienna
500 surnames as they are found in Austria: Bavarian-Austrian classics like Gruber, Pichler and Hinterleitner, Alpine farm names like Pfurtscheller and Glawischnig, and old-empire names like Novak, Horvath and Swoboda.
About Austrian last names
Austrian surnames grew out of the Bavarian dialect and the Alpine landscape. Most of them say where a family's farm stood: Gruber lived by a hollow, Pichler on a hillock, Leitner on a slope, Moser by a bog and Eder on a patch of unworked land, while Huber and Lechner name the kind of holding the family farmed. Add a second element and you get the long compounds that mark a name as Austrian at once, such as Hinterleitner, Oberhuber, Steinlechner, Schwarzenegger and Mayrhofer.
The regions add their own sound. Tyrol and Salzburg are full of farm names like Pfurtscheller, Kranebitter and Walchhofer, Vorarlberg has Alemannic names such as Hämmerle and Moosbrugger, and in Carinthia and Styria many names end in -nig or -itsch, a sign of Slovene roots: Glawischnig, Wedenig, Gregoritsch. The diminutive -l of Riedl, Seidl and Strobl is another Bavarian-Austrian hallmark.
Vienna tells a different story. As the capital of the Habsburg empire it drew workers from Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary and the South Slavic lands, which is why Novak, Dvorak, Swoboda, Prohaska and Horvath are everyday Viennese names today, usually spelled without Czech accent marks. Burgenland keeps Croatian and Hungarian names such as Resetarits and Nemeth.
How to choose Austrian last names
- Pick by region. A Tyrolean innkeeper can be a Pfurtscheller or a Kammerlander, a Vorarlberg cheesemaker a Meusburger or a Hämmerle, and a Viennese tram driver a Nowak or a Sedlacek.
- Compound names carry a built-in picture. Hinter-, Ober-, Unter-, Mitter- and Nieder- say where the farm lay in relation to its neighbors, so Oberhofer and Unterhofer could be the two ends of one fictional valley.
- Keep the umlauts and the ß when you can, as in Hörtnagl, Kühbauer and Außerlechner. If your format cannot show them, the accepted fallback is ae, oe, ue and ss.
- For a setting before 1918, mix freely: an imperial army regiment or a Viennese apartment house would hold a Huber, a Horvath, a Dvorak and a Kovacs side by side.
- Noble and famous names such as Habsburg, Esterházy, Starhemberg and Swarovski are recognized at once, so use them when you want that echo and avoid them when you do not.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most common last names in Austria?
Gruber, Huber, Bauer, Wagner, Müller, Pichler, Steiner and Moser lead most counts, with Mayer, Hofer, Leitner and Berger close behind. What stands out next to Germany is how many of the leaders are farm and landscape names instead of trade names. All of them are in the list.
Why do so many Austrian surnames end in -er?
The ending -er marks a person from a place, and in the Alps that place was usually the family farm. Someone from the farm on the Leite, the slope, became Leitner, and someone from the Egg, the ridge, became Egger. Farms kept their names for centuries, so the farm name often stuck to whoever lived there and ended up as the hereditary surname.
Why are there Czech and Hungarian names in a list of Austrian surnames?
Until 1918 Austria was the center of a multinational empire, and large numbers of people moved to Vienna from Bohemia, Moravia and Hungary. Their descendants are as Austrian as anyone, and names like Novak, Dvorak, Prohaska, Horvath and Nemeth are part of the everyday Austrian surname stock. The language a surname comes from does not tell you how a person sees themselves.
How are Austrian surnames different from German ones?
The two overlap, since both countries belong to the German language area, and Müller, Wagner and Bauer are common in both. Austria leans much more on Bavarian dialect forms such as Pichler, Hofer and Mayr, on long farm compounds such as Hinterberger and Steinlechner, and on -l diminutives like Hackl and Friedl. North German names in -sen and Low German forms are rare in Austria.
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All 500 Austrian last names
A: 8 names
- Achleitner
- Aichinger
- Aigner
- Anschober
- Arnautović
- Aschbacher
- Auer
- Außerlechner
B: 27 names
- Bachleitner
- Bauer
- Baumgartlinger
- Baumgartner
- Benesch
- Berchtold
- Berger
- Berlakovich
- Binder
- Bitschnau
- Blecha
- Bösch
- Brandauer
- Brandstätter
- Brennsteiner
- Broda
- Bruckmüller
- Bruckner
- Bründlmayer
- Brunner
- Bstieler
- Buchegger
- Buchinger
- Buchleitner
- Burgstaller
- Burtscher
- Busek
C: 1 name
- Czerny
D: 10 names
- Darabos
- Digruber
- Dobernig
- Dolezal
- Doppelmayr
- Doskozil
- Dragović
- Dünser
- Düringer
- Dvorak
E: 8 names
- Eberharter
- Ebner
- Eder
- Edtstadler
- Egger
- Eisl
- Ertl
- Esterházy
F: 19 names
- Falkner
- Fankhauser
- Farkas
- Feichtinger
- Fenninger
- Fercher
- Fetz
- Feuerstein
- Fiala
- Figl
- Filzmoser
- Fischbacher
- Forsthuber
- Frankl
- Freud
- Friedl
- Fuchs
- Fuchsberger
- Fürnkranz
G: 21 names
- Gamsjäger
- Ganahl
- Gappmayr
- Gfrerer
- Glawischnig
- Glawogger
- Gleißner
- Goldberger
- Gölles
- Görgl
- Götschl
- Grabner
- Grandits
- Gregoritsch
- Grillitsch
- Gruber
- Grubmüller
- Grünberger
- Gstrein
- Guggenberger
- Gusenbauer
H: 48 names
- Haberl
- Habsburg
- Hackl
- Haderlap
- Hagleitner
- Haider
- Haimbuchner
- Hämmerle
- Harrach
- Hartl
- Haselwanter
- Haslauer
- Haslinger
- Havlicek
- Hayek
- Hechenblaikner
- Heindl
- Hemetsberger
- Herberstein
- Herzl
- Hickersberger
- Hiden
- Hiesl
- Hinterberger
- Hinteregger
- Hinterhuber
- Hinterleitner
- Hirscher
- Hochegger
- Hochleitner
- Hochmair
- Hochreiter
- Hödl
- Hofbauer
- Hofer
- Holzbauer
- Holzer
- Holzinger
- Holzleitner
- Hörtenhuber
- Hörtnagl
- Horvath
- Hosp
- Hrdlicka
- Hruby
- Huber
- Huemer
- Hundstorfer
I: 5 names
- Ilsanker
- Innerhofer
- Innerkofler
- Inzko
- Ivanschitz
J: 8 names
- Jandl
- Jannach
- Jelinek
- Jöbstl
- Jovanović
- Juen
- Junuzović
- Jurtschitsch
K: 48 names
- Kaindl
- Kainz
- Kaltenbrunner
- Kaltenecker
- Kaltenegger
- Kammerlander
- Karall
- Karner
- Kattnig
- Khevenhüller
- Kickl
- Kirchberger
- Kirchhofer
- Kirchmayr
- Kirchschläger
- Klammer
- Klestil
- Klima
- Klimt
- Kneissl
- Köb
- Köfer
- Kofler
- Kogler
- Kohlbacher
- Kokoschka
- Kolarik
- Koller
- Korngold
- Koschat
- Köstinger
- Kovac
- Kovacs
- Krainer
- Kral
- Kranebitter
- Kratochwil
- Kraxberger
- Kreisky
- Krejci
- Krenn
- Kriechmayr
- Kröll
- Kronberger
- Kucera
- Kucher
- Kühbauer
- Kuprian
L: 20 names
- Lacina
- Lackner
- Ladurner
- Lagger
- Lainer
- Landsteiner
- Langmann
- Larcher
- Lauda
- Lechner
- Lehár
- Lehner
- Leitinger
- Leitner
- Lesjak
- Lexer
- Lichtenegger
- Liensberger
- Loacker
- Loidl
M: 35 names
- Mähr
- Maier
- Mair
- Mairhofer
- Mandl
- Marek
- Margreiter
- Mateschitz
- Mattersberger
- Mayer
- Mayerhofer
- Mayr
- Mayrhofer
- Meinl
- Meissnitzer
- Messner
- Metternich
- Metzler
- Meusburger
- Milletich
- Mischkulnig
- Mitterbauer
- Mitterer
- Mitterhofer
- Mitterhuber
- Mitterlehner
- Mittermayr
- Moosbrugger
- Moser
- Mozart
- Mühlbacher
- Mühllehner
- Müller
- Musil
- Muxel
N: 25 names
- Nachbaur
- Nagl
- Nagy
- Navratil
- Nemec
- Nemeth
- Nesensohn
- Neubacher
- Neubauer
- Neuhofer
- Neuhold
- Neumayer
- Neureiter
- Neururer
- Neuwirth
- Niederhuber
- Niederkofler
- Niederlechner
- Niedermayr
- Niederreiter
- Nigsch
- Nikolić
- Novak
- Nowak
- Nowotny
O: 13 names
- Oberegger
- Oberhofer
- Oberhuber
- Oberlechner
- Oberleitner
- Obermayr
- Obermüller
- Obernosterer
- Obwexer
- Ocwirk
- Ogris
- Ortner
- Ostermayer
P: 36 names
- Pargfrieder
- Pernsteiner
- Pertl
- Pesendorfer
- Petritsch
- Petrović
- Petschnig
- Pfurtscheller
- Pichler
- Piëch
- Pierer
- Pircher
- Pirker
- Pirklbauer
- Platter
- Plattner
- Platzer
- Pogatetz
- Pokorny
- Polz
- Pölzl
- Pongratz
- Popper
- Porsche
- Posch
- Pöschl
- Pospischil
- Pototschnig
- Prantl
- Praxmarer
- Prohaska
- Pröll
- Prutsch
- Puchleitner
- Pühringer
- Putz
Q: 1 name
- Qualtinger
R: 25 names
- Rabensteiner
- Ragger
- Raich
- Rainer
- Ramsauer
- Ratzenböck
- Reichenberger
- Reindl
- Reisinger
- Reitbauer
- Reiter
- Reiterer
- Reithofer
- Resch
- Resetarits
- Rettenegger
- Rhomberg
- Rieder
- Riedl
- Riml
- Rohrbacher
- Rohrmoser
- Rosegger
- Rüdisser
- Ruzicka
S: 78 names
- Sablatnig
- Sacher
- Sailer
- Salzgeber
- Santner
- Schachinger
- Schantl
- Schebesta
- Schiele
- Schiestl
- Schitter
- Schlierenzauer
- Schmaranzer
- Schmid
- Schmidbauer
- Schmidhofer
- Schmidhuber
- Schnabl
- Schneeberger
- Schnitzler
- Schober
- Schönberg
- Schönberger
- Schönborn
- Schönegger
- Schörghofer
- Schranz
- Schrittwieser
- Schrödinger
- Schuschnigg
- Schwaiger
- Schwaighofer
- Schwarz
- Schwarzenberg
- Schwarzenegger
- Schwärzler
- Sedlacek
- Sedlmayr
- Seidl
S, continued
- Seiwald
- Siebenhofer
- Sigl
- Simma
- Sindelar
- Sinowatz
- Skoff
- Smolle
- Sobotka
- Sohm
- Sonnleitner
- Spielbüchler
- Spindelegger
- Stadler
- Stadlober
- Stangl
- Starhemberg
- Steinbauer
- Steindl
- Steinegger
- Steiner
- Steinhuber
- Steininger
- Steinlechner
- Stelzhamer
- Stipsits
- Stöckl
- Strasser
- Streitberger
- Striedinger
- Strnad
- Strobl
- Strohmaier
- Strolz
- Sutterlüty
- Swarovski
- Swoboda
- Sykora
- Szabo
T: 13 names
- Tement
- Thaler
- Tieber
- Tipotsch
- Toth
- Trakl
- Trattnig
- Trauttmansdorff
- Trojer
- Trummer
- Truppe
- Tschofen
- Tschurtschenthaler
U: 5 names
- Unger
- Unterberger
- Unterhofer
- Unterkircher
- Unterlechner
V: 4 names
- Varga
- Vogl
- Vonbank
- Vranitzky
W: 30 names
- Wagner
- Wakounig
- Walcher
- Walchhofer
- Waldmüller
- Wallner
- Wallnöfer
- Wanek
- Watzlawick
- Wechselberger
- Wedenig
- Weinberger
- Weißenböck
- Weißensteiner
- Werfel
- Wessely
- Wibmer
- Wiesbauer
- Wiesenthal
- Wieser
- Wiesinger
- Wiesmayr
- Wimmer
- Winkler
- Wittgenstein
- Wlaschek
- Wöginger
- Wohlgenannt
- Wonisch
- Wotruba