Wegner, Judith wrote ....

My husband and I have often wondered whether his surname Wegner
(perhaps related to the name Wagner) comes >from the word Wagen (German
for "cart" or "wagon"). If so, presumably Wagner or Wegner would mean
a "wagoneer", which we have assumed would be a translation of
balagulah. Does anybody know?

According to <http://surnames.behindthename.com/php/browse.php?letter=w>
Wegener and Wegner are Low German variants of Wagner (which comes >from Wagener
meaning "cartwright"). Presumably, names of Low German origin would be less
common in Austria than in northern Germany. Other Wagner variants, according
to this page, are Waegner, Waehner, Wahner, Wehner, and Weiner.

On the other hand, the surname of the famous physicist Eugene Wigner was
originally Wiegner, meaning "candlemaker", according to "Eugene Paul Wigner: A
Biographical Sketch" by J. Mehta, in The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner.

Robert Israel
israel@...
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, Canada