Reply #12: Another thing, 'von' means 'from' or 'of.' [View All]

[FlashHarry]

A common occurrence in old European names ('van' in Dutch, 'of' in English, though it disappeared over the course of many centuries). It allowed a person or family to be differentiated by where they came from.

If his last name was indeed 'von Roverer,' that would indicate his family came from the town or place of 'Roverer.' This is all fine and dandy, except there is no town or place of that name--never was. In fact, the only Google reference I could find on a German site (all the others were Al Martin-related) was to a Land-Roverer.

This is not surprising. The suffix 'er' in German is much the same as it is in English (which is Germanic in origin). It means 'one who does something,' as in Jaeger (hunter) or Bauer (farmer) or Verfasser (author/writer). So, a 'roverer' would be 'someone who 'roves'--whatever that means in German.