Origins of the Milder Name

Nothing is known for certain about the origin of the Milder surname. When surnames came into existence (around 10th -11th centuries), they were added to given Christian names to make them more specific and to indicate family relationship.

Most surnames fall into a few categories: (1) those formed from the given name of the sire; (2) those arising from bodily or personal characteristics; (3) those derived from locality or place of residence; and (4) those derived from occupation.It is likely that "Milder" was derived from an occupation of barrel or tub making.

The oldest Milder ancestors were of the Teutonic race and lived primarily in the Baltic area of Northern Europe from Holland to Bavaria.

The Milders are concentrated geographically in The Netherlands and Iowa, USA but can be found all over Europe and USA.

For us Dutch, it's always been "mill-der" (short i). I'm always amazed when I come to the US and people pronounce it this way as well, rather than "mile-der" (rhymes with "wilder"), which would be the obvious choice. "Meal-der" would be the way to pronounce it in German: German has the same adjective "mild" (milder, mildest) as English, but the pronunciation is different ("meal'd, meal-der, meal-dest). "Mulder" (in Dutch) sounds more or less like "mull-der".

I'm now aware of the old German word "Milder" meaning "cooper" - I always thought it was the same word as old Dutch "muller" or "mulder" (or "miller" in the sense of a person operating a wind mill). Jan Nuijten pointed out that the word "Milder" comes from the German word for someone who makes zinc barrels and tubs and stuff - as opposed to wooden barrels.

Jan also pointed out that the Anspach (Germany) phone dictionary doesn't include any Milder's but does include variants like Milleder. Furthermore, other information suggests that "Milder" and "Mülldner" were used interchangeably [this refers to "other" Milder's - outside our family tree]. Jan seemed very confident that there was no relation to "Miller" (the windmill type of guy).

The root of the word is ancient.
--> Etymology: Middle English, from mul, mol dust, probably from Middle Dutch; akin to Old English melu meal -- more at MEAL. Date: 15th century. Meal/mul/mull/mol/mill: all words that relate to grinding, and with Holland being the world's #1 wind mill country, there are still dozens of words that go back the old Middle Dutch word. A miller is a molenaar, a mill is a molen, and so on.

Today's trivia: my grandmother's [father's side] maiden name was "Van der Meulen" which I've always interpreted as "Of the Mill". In combination with her husband's name, this became kind of funny: Milder-Van der Meulen -> Miller-Of the Mill? All this used to make some sort of sense until I heard about the word "milder" meaning "cooper"

Coat of Arms / Family Crest

I don't know for certain if there is an original Coat of Arms or Family Crest for the Milder family. There are many people in the business of providing such material whether it exists or not. I remember my Father buying something of the like from one of these companies in the 1970's. There was a Coat of Arms and some vague wording that could have been substituted for any family.

It is possible that many others in the Milder family have an example of what could be a Coat of Arms.

We could put up all the various renderings of the Coat of Arms and vote for the one we like the most and then adopt it for the time being.

updated 8/24/2002 - Copyright© 2000-2002 Milder.org