What is a Gamber?
There are perhaps 1,000 people with the family name Gamber, located in the United States, Germany, France, South Tyrol (Italy), Azerbaijan and perhaps other parts of the former Soviet Union. The US, Soviet and French groups are all descended from people who migrated from the Rhine area in the 18th centuries or later. The fairly small total makes it likely that all are derived ultimately from the same source. But that is simply a guess.
The name has no meaning in any major living language - it is not smith, miller or cooper. What does it mean? Several suggestions have been found:
The Historical Research Center, a business that lives by providing "Family Name Histories" and coats of arms, provides two origins for the name:
- Italian, a shortening of Gamberini or Gambero, derived from the Italian for langosta (a crawfish or small lobster without claws). The meaning is a person who fishes for langosta. Variations on the name are Gambero, Gambera and Gamber. (The Italian love for vowels at the ends of names makes this idea seem to me rather unlikely as the source of "Gamber." dcg)
- Austrian, derived from Middle High German "gampen," to jump around or to dance. A "Gamber" would be one who is playful or a prankster. Variations Gamp, Gamber, Gampel, Gampler, Gampert, Gamperl. The name may relate to the town of Gamp in Switzerland.
From dictionaries:
- French: Gamber - Swiss French. One who takes large strides, particularly in chasing chamois across mountain crags.
- Latin: Gamber - hoof, as of a horse
- Greek: Gamb - tooth or nail
In Alsace, north of Strasbourg, is the town of Gambsheim (home of Gamb). The name dates to at least 780. However, no "Gamber" has been found by someone who has extensively researched the town archives.
However, one correspondent says that the family memory is that the origin is Alsace - that the family were Huguenots (Protestants) who migrated from what is now France due to religious prosecution.
All the Gambers we have researched are Protestant, usually Calvinist, with the exception of one modern convert to Catholicism.
My (perhaps fanciful) theory, constructed from the above:
Gambsheim was founded by a Roman soldier of Greek origin, who was given land when he retired from the military. He was a fierce fighter, called Gamb (tooth or nail). People descended from that man, or living in that area, became known as "Gamber" - of Gamb.
The area became Protestant in the 16th century, and enjoyed tolerance until Alsace was conquered by the French after the 30 Years War and then the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. The Gambers migrated to freedom, mostly north across the border to the Pfalz (Palatine), some across the Rhine, and then to the New World and Russia.
Our John Gamber quickly settled in one of the new towns in SW Pennsylvania. He and his sons and grandsons were skilled craftmen.
The Gambers
We presume John Gamber was the son or grandson of an immigrant from the
Pfalz. There are still quite a few Gambers in the Landstuhl area. And I have
a personal hypothesis that the name originated in Alsace, at or near the
village "Gambsheim". The family became Protestant, and left Alsace (which
had recently been annexed to France) when the Treaty of Nantes was revoked.
We have records of a number of 18th century Gambers, many Johannes, landing
in Philadelphia. Now if we could only find John Gamber's parentage!
And I got another response from my mass mailing to Gambers. Someone who lives in France and has traced back to a Gamber who migrated FROM GERMANY in the 1820's. But that was from Breisach, on the Rhine across from Colmar - well within our area of concentration.
Pour ce qui concerne Gambsheim, c'est effectivement une commune que je connais bien et toute ma famille y est née et y a vécu depuis environ 1680. Ceci dit, et ceci va peut être vous décevoir (!), je dois vous dire qu'en étudiant les registres de Gambsheim, je ne me souviens pas avoir rencontré le patronyme Gamber. Le nom de Gambsheim est cité pour la première fois dans un document en latin datant de 748 : le lieu est dénommé GAMHBAPINE. Je ne sais pas si ce nom latin a un sens.
I was born in Landstuhl, in the Pfalz. The name Gamber appears in the official records of Landstuhl as early as 1740. My ancestors were hat makers and carpenters. My mother told me that the family came originally from France, where they were as Huguenots (protestants) persecuted.
A guess on my part: the name Gamber perhaps relates to the musical instrument "gambe", which is similar to a violin. The gambe was found in France. Perhaps our ancestors played or built those instruments.
The first Gamber recorded in Philadelphia is Johannes in 1732. In 1750 the names Georg Michael and Johann Henrich are added.
Johannes Willbert Gamber arrived with wife and children on the ship Dragon arriving 17 Oct 1749. His name does not appear in the Philadelphia records, so apparently the family continued more or less immediately to the west, to the area of Host Church near Lancaster. The records show "Place of origin was Williberth. Source: Reformed Church of Niederhochstadt/Pfalz and Pennsylvania Archives, S3, Volume XVIII; Baptized May 5, 1717, Niederhochstadt/Platz; Married 18 Feb 1741; Issue: Baptized Oberhochstadt and Host Church, Tulpehocken, Berks County, PA; Berks
County Tax records-Pinegeove Township, Berks County, PA 1774-1784."
Do you know where in the Pfalz your GAMBERs came from? I have lots of
GAMPFERs (very early 1800s back to mid 1600s) who lived in the area around
Pirmasens in present day Rheinland-Pfalz. In several old German church
registers GAMBER appears to be a variant spelling of GAMPFER (or visa
versa). Anyway, I would be very interested in exchanging information with
you.