Unger

Recorded in a number of spellings including: Unger, Ungar, Hunger, Hungar, Ungerecht, the patronymic Ungerechts, the residential Ungerer, this is a medieval surname generally considered to be of Germanic origins. It is international locational and describes a person who came from the state of Hungary, and settled mainly in the Holy Roman German Empire, which covered the German speaking regions of Europe until 1806. The locational name as a type is probably the most popular western surname. It received a major boost during the medieval period 700 years ago which for over two hundred years was one of great change with hundreds of thousands of people being forced by war and plague to move around the continent of Europe. What is certain is that many of these unfortunate people found customs even between adjoining towns quite different, dialects or accents certainly so, and strangers rarely welcome! As a result to be called ''Hungarian'' in Germany or say ''French'' in England was a double edged sword. Interestingly today''s immigrants in the 21st century tend to keep their existing (sur)names which certainly is a double edged sword that society has totally failed to reconcile. Whatever the drawbacks if any, this surnames is one of the earliest recorded in the German listings with for example Berchtand Unger of Biberach in the charters of that town in the year 1279, and Ulrich Ungerer in the charters of Morzheim in Landau, in the year 1301. Perhaps not surprisingly there are coats of arms recorded for the surname from many countries or regions including Brunswick, Denmark, Switzerland, Bohemia, Estonia, Sweden, Andalusia and others. The typical blazon has a bear rampant on a red or blue field, but there are many variations on this theme.