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Fuchs History Etymology Spelling Variations Ranking

United States Canada Australia New Zealand

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Sources

Fuchs History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Germany
Israel

Etymology of Fuchs

What does the name Fuchs mean?

During the biblical era, a Jew held only one name. This name was joined with their father's name typically using 'ben' ("son of"), to inform people who the individual's family ties were. Interestingly, the 4th century B.C. until the end of the Roman Empire it was quite common for Jews to have a Greek name rather than a Hebrew one.

Furthermore, Jews who lived in the western side of the Empire spoke Latin, and the Jews living in Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia all were commonly known with Aramaic names. 1

Fuchs is one of many German Jewish local names to come from the sign of a house in the Frankfurt ghetto. House 78 bore the sign of a fox (fuchs in German), and many of its residents adopted that as their surnames. There are also two other less common sources from which some cases of the name may derive. One is that among eastern European Jews "fox" was used as a nickname for people with red hair and may have been adopted as a surname. The other is that there was a garment worn by rabbis in 18th and 19th century Poland that was trimmed with fox fur, from which some of them may have taken their surnames. It would then qualify as an occupational name, a type of name that identified people by reference to their profession.

Fuchs Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Fox and Fuchs and more. and others.

Fuchs Ranking

In the United States, the name Fuchs is the 3,225^th most popular surname with an estimated 9,948 people with that name. 3 However, in France, the name Fuchs is ranked the 1,037^th most popular surname with an estimated 5,169 people with that name. 4

Fuchs migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Fuchs Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Christoph Fuchs, who settled in New York in 1709-10
Adam Fuchs, who landed in New York in 1709 5
Philipp Fuchs, who arrived in New York in 1709 with his wife Anna Eva and 4 children 5
Henrich Fuchs, who landed in New York in 1709 5
Peter Fuchs, who arrived in New York in 1709 5
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Fuchs Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

John S Fuchs, aged 45, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1804 5
G Fuchs, aged 15, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1804 5
J Henry Fuchs, aged 19, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1804 5
Eliz Fuchs, aged 12, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1804 5
Catharine Fuchs, aged 5, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1804 5
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Fuchs migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Fuchs Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Johann Fuchs, who settled in Canada in 1783

Fuchs migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Fuchs Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Franz Carl August Fuchs, aged 25, a gardener, who arrived in South Australia in 1847 aboard the ship "Hermann von Beckerath" 6

Fuchs migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Fuchs Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Mr. John Fuchs, (b. 1809), aged 33, British settler travelling from London and Plymouth aboard the ship "Thomas Sparks" arriving in Wellington, New Zealand on 31st January 1843, the ship stuck rocks of the coast of Cape of Good Hope delaying her landing by 2 months 7
Mrs. Ann Fuchs, British settler travelling from London and Plymouth aboard the ship "Thomas Sparks" arriving in Wellington, New Zealand on 31st January 1843, the ship stuck rocks of the coast of Cape of Good Hope delaying her landing by 2 months 7
Mr. Fuchs, (b. 1840), aged 2, British settler travelling from London and Plymouth aboard the ship "Thomas Sparks" arriving in Wellington, New Zealand on 31st January 1843, the ship stuck rocks of the coast of Cape of Good Hope delaying her landing by 2 months, he died on board 7

Contemporary Notables of the name Fuchs (post 1700) +

Elinor Fuchs (1933-2024), American theater scholar, critic, and playwright
Lillian Fuchs (1901-1995), American violist, teacher and composer
Michael J. Fuchs (b. 1946), American executive producer
László Fuchs (b. 1924), Hungarian-born American mathematician
Ronald Fuchs (1932-2012), American theoretical physicist
Walter Robert Fuchs (1937-1976), American-German science communicator and science popularizer
James Emanuel Fuchs (1927-2010), American communications executive and athlete
Henry Fuchs (1879-1947), known as Jacob Fox, American Major League Baseball pitcher
Emil Edwin "Judge" Fuchs (1878-1961), German-born American baseball owner and executive
Emil Fuchs MVO (1866-1929), Austrian-American sculptor, medallist, painter, and author
... (Another 50 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Historic Events for the Fuchs family +

Bismarck

Fritz Fuchs (1921-1941), German Matrosengefreiter who served aboard the German Battleship Bismarck during World War II when it was sunk heading to France; he died in the sinking 8
Artur Fuchs (1917-1941), German Matrosenhauptgefreiter who served aboard the German Battleship Bismarck during World War II when it was sunk heading to France; he died in the sinking 8

USS Indianapolis

Herman Ferdinand Fuchs, American crew member on board the ship "USS Indianapolis" when she was on a top secret trip for the first nuclear weapon, she was sunk by Japanese Navy on 30th July 1945, he was one of the many who were killed in the sinking due to exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning and shark attacks 9

Sources +

Weiss, Nelly. The Origin of Jewish family names: Morphology and History. Peter Lang AG, 2002. Digital
Weiss, Nelly. The origin of Jewish family names: morphology and history. Peter Lang AG, 2002. Digital
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) HERMANN VON BECKERATH 1847. Retrieved from http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1847HermanVonBeckerath.htm
New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
Bismarck & Tirpitz Class - Crew List Bismarck. (Retrieved 2018, February 06). Retrieved from https://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/crew/bismarck_crew.html#crew_details
Final Crew List, retrieved 2021, October 30th Retrieved from https://www.ussindianapolis.com/final-crew