Goethe (also Göthe and Gœthe) is a
German surname. It is best known for
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832).
It belongs to the group of surnames derived from given names, in this case given names in Got-, in most cases likely Gottfried (c.f. Götz). Variants of the surname include Göth, Goeth and Göthke, Götke.
The name is comparatively rare; the German phonebook (as of 2013) has 176 entries for Göthe and 168 entries for Goethe; 179 entries for Göth and 28 entries for Goeth; 11 entries for Götke and 2 entries for Göthke.[1]
his great-grandfather, Hans Christian Göthe (fl. 1650s), a blacksmith of
Kannawurf,
Thuringia, married Sibylla Werner
his grandfather Friedrich Georg Göthe (6 September 1657 – 10 November 1730), lived in
Lyon but in 1685 with the suspension of the
Edict of Nantes was forced to move to
Frankfurt.
his wife (m. 1806) and former mistress
Christiane von Goethe (1765-1816) née Vulpius
their son
August von Goethe (born out of wedlock 25 December 1789, died 28 October 1830), and his wife Ottilie von Goethe, née von Pogwisch (31 October 1796 – 26 October 1872).
This page lists people with the
surnameGoethe. If an
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