The name Eisenbarth developed from the male first name ´Isanbert´, which was already common in the south-west of Germany before the 8th century.
Isan - Isen - Isinus means metal - iron.
bart - bert - berht means glittering - shining- famous.
Thus the meaning of the name is ironglittering / glittering like iron.
Origin
Gothic bairt = bright - glittering
Old High German: berath, behrt, breht.
various forms of development: Ibart, bert, brecht, precht, berta, brand
Summary: ayas - bairhrd
isen - bart Isenpreht - Isenpart - Isenprand - Eisenbarth
Meaning: glittering metal or, traced back to the oldest form, both wordstems mean (to) shine.
Progression
Until the 13th century, the name ´Isanbert´ = ´Eisenbarth´was only a first name. There were no family names then. People used additional names or explanations like Isanbert followed by the name of a village or a house, or they added sohn (son) to the name as in Isanbertssohn.
When the population increased in the 13th/14th century, family names were developed to distinguish the families. These family names remained with the families and were hereditary in the male line.
Sources
In historic books, documents, lease accounts and parish-registers names similar to Eisenbarth appear quite early.
- Around 770 Isanbard, lord in the Thurgau (Switzerland)
- 768 - 814 A lord named Isanbard was the half-brother-in -law of Charles the Great
- 800 Isanbard, son of Warin, representative of the king in Alemania
- 822 Isanphad whitness in a lawsuit in Sulzpurch (Salzburg, Austria)
- 872 In Italy Isambart fought, supporting the Sarazenes
- 1019 Eisenbart, Lord of Sayn, at the tourney in Trier (Germany)
- 1033 - 1062 Isembart of Broyes was Bishop of Orleans
- Some time later, 1090 - 1094, there was an abbot named Ysembard in Ellwangen near Aalen
- 1152 Isembarde Logestein (Lahnstein), in the train of the Archbishop of Trier
- 1190 Isanbard, blessed monk in the Zisterziensian monestry in Himmerod/Eifel (Germany). He was worshipped as a saint
- Around 1250 Isanbert in Speyer (Germany)
- 1291 Isembardus, cellarer in Speyer
- 1294 Heinrich Ysinbart in Speyer
Documents in the Trier area mention the name Eisenbarth around 1300:
- 1300 - 1364 The clergyman Conradus Johannes Isinbardus, notary of the Koblenz Kuria
- 1314 Isembart in Iwilre/ Saarland (Germany)
- Around 1350 a Welfe named Eisenbard
- 1372 'Richwin Sohn des Isenbart' (son of Isenbart) in Kettig near Koblenz and his wife Demodis are mentioned in documents
- 1431 A monk named Isambart appears as a follower of Jeanne D'Arc in Rouen (France)
- 1436 Hans Isenbart is mentioned in a Thuringian document
- 1454 Hans Ysenbart, carpenter in Rüsselsheim (Germany)
- However, still in modern times, in 1843, the name Isambard was used as a first name in England, one example being the architect and shipbuilder Isambard Kingdom Brunel
- The Arzheim Eisenbarths near Koblenz were Schultheisse (mayors) during the Thirty Years War (1618 - 1648) already and made donations to the church
- Around 1600 Ysenbaerts came from the Netherlands to Frankenthal near Ludwigshafen (Germany)
- In the 16th century another Eisenbarth lived as castellans on Burg Falkenstein, a castle overlooking the Danube
- Wolf Eisenbarth had an affair with his master's sister and was made prisoner in the castle tower of Schlatzburg near Balingen (Germany). He died when attempting to escape. The dungeon was then called the Eisenbarth tower.
- Last but not least the famous surgeon and inventor Johann Andreas Eisenbarth (1663 - 1727)
Some of his titles are: Royal British and Electoral Brunswick, Lüneburg Priviledged Doctor, as well as 'Royal Prussian Councillor' and 'Court Occulist of Magdeburg'
Other spellings
More still exsisting spellings are: Isanperaht, Isanperht, Isambert, Isembert, Isambard.
The old spelling is still used as a family name. In Mayen near Koblenz still lives a family Isambert. Also in France and other Countrys you can find nowadays the name Isambert. The old spelling Isenbart is often to be found in the Hannover area nowadays.
Translation: Petra Eisenbarth, Cologne