Surname:Greathouse

Origins of the Greathouse Surname

The Greathouse surname has it's origin in English or German. Greathouse is not a traditional name. It is of a more local origin as the Greathouse surname is explained as "a designation often given to the principal house of a district, usually that of a large proprietor." The name therefore may have been used by one living near a "great house" or castle. The German surname Grosshaus may have been Englished as Greathouse.

GREATHOUSE

1. North German and Dutch: Americanized form of Grothaus, habitational name from any of various farms so called, literally ‘big house’, in particular one in Westphalia.

GROTHAUS

1. North German: topographic name for someone who lived in or by a large house or farmstead, from Low German grot(h) ‘large’, ‘great’ + central or standard German Haus ‘house’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

GREATHOUSE

1. English: Dweller near, or worker in, the big house.

New Dictionary of American Family Names by E.C. Smith.

GROTHAUS, GROTHHAUS, GROTHUSEN

1. German: Large house.

German-American Names by George F. JONES.

--Rivang 13:44, 10 April 2007 (MDT)