I seek possible derivations of surname SCHRECKINGER. Have tried German
dictionary, Yiddish sourcebooks, shtetl finder to no avail- also tried
name variants. I know Shrek means fright in German and suffix inger
means more, but this makes little sense to me. My grandfather, Osias
Schreckinger emigrated >from Sambor (now Ukraine) to US in early 1900s.
Would appreciate suggestions. Thanks.

Rochelle Kaplan
Salt Lake City

Researching: SCHRECKINGER, KARP- Sambor
KAPLAN, BREGMAN, RAPAPORT-Slutsk, Kopyl
GERSON- Riga, Bauska
ZAKS- Kraziai, Lithuania
LEIBSON/LIPSON- Brailov, Shargorod
LEBOWSKY, WEINBERG-Piaski, Peski

Rochelle:
-INGER doesn't mean "more"; it (generally) means "person >from a town
ending in '-ingen'. There are literally thousands of such places in the
German-speaking world. Alas, a Google search yields only one (probably
jocular) reference to some place named Bad Schreckingen--the "Schreck"
part does indeed mean fright--but there does seem to be a place near
Linz called Schrecking. A person >from a place ending in '-ing' (many of
those in Austria) might also be an '-INGER'.

All of which is to say that the name may well be a reference to some
long-vanished (or renamed) village or hamlet. Or it's a corruption of
SCHLESINGER, which means "person >from Silesia." A *very* common name in
some regions. Or something else entirely.

Glad to be of help. 8-)

Roger Lustig
researching Upper Silesia

Rochelle Kaplan wrote:

Hello Rochelle,
I happened to find this old post of yours.  I believe we might have been in touch at one point several years ago.  Anyway, my grandmother immigrated to the U.S. in 1908 with her cousin or friend Chaya Shreckinger from Sprein (in the Sambor Raion).  Chaya went to Connecticut (I believe the name was Chesterfield according to the ship manifest).  Perhaps she was related to your grandfather.

Regards, 

Carol\