Hallo,
I have always been interested in the original meaning or source of our German surnames! In researching my own name Ehlers (which I believe is close to Ahlers) have come up with some heraldy "facts"! Mention has been made of a link to a Viking named King Ahl (or Harald) of ancient Norway! We know the Weser river near Oldenburg was invaded and settled by Vikings (c. 8th Century) and I wonder if anyone has information relating to this theory?
MfG, Richard
Hello,
all the etymologies I know of state that Ahlers is the patronym of Ahlert, which in turn comes from Adelhart = "edel + hart" = "noble + hard/stern". I just looked up Ehlert in Naumann's book of names, and it says: from "egil + hart" = "Schrecken + hart" = "fright + hard".
The Vikings did sail up the Weser, even the Hunte River to where Oldenburg is today, and raided places, whether they actually settled here is disputed, AFAIK there is no historical or archeological evidence for that.
Regards
Heiko
"Richard C. Ehlers" <rcehlers@gate.net> schrieb: