Quick Facts
Biography
Bachmann is a surname of Switzerland and Germany. It originates as a description of the bearer as dwelling near a brook (Bach), such as a farm "Hofstatt am Bach" also called "Bachmanns Hofstatt" near Hinwil or Dürnten (recorded 1387), or the "Hof zum Bach" near Richterswil (recorded 1555).
Low German variants of the name include Beckman(n); Beekman(n).
Switzerland
There are three main lines of Bachmann families in Switzerland,
- Canton of Thurgau/Canton of Zürich: Attested from 1361 at Stettfurt and Thundorf. Protestants since the Swiss Reformation, this branch came to riches trading wine and linen during the 18th century. Jakob Huldreich Bachmann was a national councillor and a federal judge. [1][2][3][4]
- Canton of Zug: attested in Menzingen and Zug from 1359. Several reeves and city councillors in the 15th to 16th century.
- Canton of Glarus: this branch moved into Glarus from the Linth plain in the 17th century, and occupied a number of political and military offices in Glarus in the 18th to 19th centuries.[5]
Germany
A Bachmann family of Bohemia is attested as bearing arms in the 15th century. Their coat of arms displays two linden leaves.
North America
The name is often anglicized to Bachman in North America, and sometimes as Baughman.
Georg Bachmann (born 1686 in Richterswil, son of Jos Bachmann 1657-1736) was Mennonite, married to Anna Maria Schnebelli in 1715. He emigrated to Coopersburg, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1717. Their family bible, a 1536 Froschauer Bible, remains in possession of the Mennonite Heritage Center, Harleysville, Pennsylvania.
People
- August Bachmann, German physician and botanist (1652–1723) also known as Augustus Quirinus Rivinus
- Carl G. Bachmann, United States Congress Representative (1890–1980)
- Eric Bachmann, Miami University Professor (1980–present)
- Franz Ewald Theodor Bachmann, German medical and naturalist (1850-1937)
- Heinz Bachmann, mathematician (born 1924)
- Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian poet and author (1926–73)
- John Bachmann, Swiss lithographer and artist (1814–96)
- Josef Bachmann, German would-be assassin (1945–70)
- Joseph Siegmund Bachmann (1754–1825), German organist and composer
- Lutz Bachmann (born 1973), German xenophobic and Islamophobic activist, founder of PEGIDA
- Michele Bachmann (born 1956), member of the U.S. Congress from Minnesota
- Paul Bachmann, German mathematician (1837–1920)
- Ramona Bachmann (born 1990), Swiss football (soccer) player
- Werner Emmanuel Bachmann, U.S. chemist