Family name origins & meanings
- German : occupational name for a worker in iron, from Middle High German īsen ‘iron’ (see Eisen) + houwære, a derivative of houwen ‘to cut, chop, or hew’. As a vocabulary word, this is found in west central (Palatine) Germany only; elsewhere the standard term is Schmidt. In the United States, the Eisenhauers (and bearers of the various Americanized forms of the name) are found mainly in PA.