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ArchivesHarlachen (place name)
The surname Harlacher is derived from the place name Harlachen in Bavaria. https://surnames.behindthename.com/name/harlacher/submitted But what is the origin of the place name?
keep your chin up and live life facing forward!
keep your chin up and live life facing forward!
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Unfortunately, there are many possibilities and without going to historical records it cannot be easily detemined.
Dorchadas already put a lot of good facts together, read her answer first since I try not to repeat.
For places in Baden-Württemberg, there is another splitting possible: Harl-ach with ach meaning "water; creek, small river" but I have not immediate idea on harl.
Than, we cannot exclude that the place is named for a given name, there are given names ending in -lach from laic "play" like Gundlach or Gerlach. The name *Hari-laic (or a form of it) isn't attested in Förstemann 1900, but it is an entirely plausible medieval German name.
--elbowin
Dorchadas already put a lot of good facts together, read her answer first since I try not to repeat.
For places in Baden-Württemberg, there is another splitting possible: Harl-ach with ach meaning "water; creek, small river" but I have not immediate idea on harl.
Than, we cannot exclude that the place is named for a given name, there are given names ending in -lach from laic "play" like Gundlach or Gerlach. The name *Hari-laic (or a form of it) isn't attested in Förstemann 1900, but it is an entirely plausible medieval German name.
--elbowin
This message was edited 11/3/2019, 1:29 AM
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True, a great many of this sort of given name are not recorded until they appear much later as family names. To complicate things, H- appears as a later addition to the beginning of names which originally began with a vowel.
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The information provided in the entry that you linked, is lifted straight from the entry for Harlacher on page 132 of "Dictionary of American Family Names" written by Patrick Hanks (https://books.google.de/books?id=FJoDDAAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA132):
Harlacher (197) German: habitational name for someone from Ober- or Unter-Harlachen, near Überlingen.
Ober-Harlachen and Unter-Harlachen respectively translate to Upper Harlachen and Lower Harlachen in English. Überlingen is a city in the south of the German state of Baden-Württemberg:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Cberlingen (in English)
There is no mention of Ober-Harlachen and Unter-Harlachen on the German Wikipedia. It only mentions two places called Harlachen: one in the aforementioned state of Baden-Württemberg and one in the state of Bavaria:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlachen (in German)
With that said, you should know that there is a German surname that is very similar to Harlacher, namely Horlacher. It is possible that in some cases, Harlacher may be a corruption of Horlacher, since the 'o' can be confused for an 'a' when reading (and vice versa), especially if the handwriting is very poor. Horlacher is also a locational surname, as it refers to any of the places called Horlachen in Germany:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horlachen (in German; one is in Baden-Württemberg, the rest is in Bavaria)
In Bavaria, there is also a place called Harrlach and a place called Horlach:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrlach (in German)
Harlacher (197) German: habitational name for someone from Ober- or Unter-Harlachen, near Überlingen.
Ober-Harlachen and Unter-Harlachen respectively translate to Upper Harlachen and Lower Harlachen in English. Überlingen is a city in the south of the German state of Baden-Württemberg:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Cberlingen (in English)
There is no mention of Ober-Harlachen and Unter-Harlachen on the German Wikipedia. It only mentions two places called Harlachen: one in the aforementioned state of Baden-Württemberg and one in the state of Bavaria:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlachen (in German)
With that said, you should know that there is a German surname that is very similar to Harlacher, namely Horlacher. It is possible that in some cases, Harlacher may be a corruption of Horlacher, since the 'o' can be confused for an 'a' when reading (and vice versa), especially if the handwriting is very poor. Horlacher is also a locational surname, as it refers to any of the places called Horlachen in Germany:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horlachen (in German; one is in Baden-Württemberg, the rest is in Bavaria)
In Bavaria, there is also a place called Harrlach and a place called Horlach:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrlach (in German)
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