Family names like Guckenbiehl, Guggenbühler etc. - Some general remarks

1. Families living on a "Guggenbühl"...

Since the 12^th century family names spread from Italy to Switzerland and then to the rest of medieval Germany. One common source for family names was the place where a family lived. Wellknown examples are the noble houses of the Hohenstaufen or the Hohenzollern.

As we will see a bit further down, "Guckenbiehl" or "Guggenbühl" was quite a common name for hills. In fact the latter part "biehl" or "bühl", resp., derives from the Old High German word "buhil" and Middle High German word "Bühle", both meaning "hill".

If some man named Hans lived on a secluded hill named Guggenbühl, then he was often designated by other people as "Hans of the Guggenbühl", which might change to "Guggenbühler Hans" and eventually might become "Hans Guggenbühler". And if there was a farm on the hill, then it too was frequently named after the hill. And if it became a village or town, it might have kept the name.

Of course, this might have happened on different hills named Guggenbühl, and therefore some Heidi Guggenbühler and some Hans Guggenbühler do not need to share common ancestors. On the other hand, it might be that Heidi Guggenbühler and some Heiner Guckenbihl share common ancestors from the same farm on some Guggenbühl even if their family names differ. The reason is that in the past many people were unable to spell their names. So when the name had to be recorded in some document, the priest or public official decided how he spelled the name that people told him. And even when people could spell their names, it might happen that it was written down in a different way, because that way was common in the area. That is why the records give different variants of the name:

In the Palatinate:
Guckenbiehl, Gukenbiehl, Guckenbühler, Gukenbühler, Gukenbühl, Kochenbinder, Guckenbiel, Gukenbühl, Gukenbiel
In Switzerland and the regions that nowadays belong to Baden-Württemberg:
Guggenbühl, Guggenbühler, Guggenbül, Guggenbihl, Gungbügler, Guggenbiehler, Guggenbühel, Gugginbühl, Guggenbichler, Guggenbiller
In Alsace:
Guggenbuhl

Only since the middle of the 19^th century names stabilized, because files were kept more precisely and public education improved.

The earliest document I know that mentions a variant of the name was written in 1312 in the Baar, a region northwest of Lake Constance. It will be further discussed in this section. 1345 the name occurs in Uetikon at Lake Zurich, where the family is still alive. In the early 19th century a member of this family line founded the line in Alsace. In Badenia church records have variants of the name since the 17th century, records from the region of Kaiserslautern in the Palatinate since 1733. If those family lines were also founded by members of the Swiss family or by members of a family that originally lived on some other hill named "Guckenbiehl" or "Guggenbühl" is still unclear. However, it is certain that in the 19th century members of the Palatinate line emigrated to England and to the US.

2. What hills might have been called "Guckenbühl" ?

There are different answers to this question, because "Gucken" or "Guggen" may be derived in different ways: For instance the dictionary started by brothers Grimm gives the following two meanings ([Grimm und Grimm], Vol. 9, Col. 1031-1038):

To call like a "gugger" or "guggauch", which were old terms for a cuckoo.
The dictionary states that the term was still in use at the end of the 19^th century in Upper German, to which all of the Alemanian dialects belong. Sites where the cuckoo called had a certain importance, because the call was taken to foretell a long life.
"Sehen, Schauen", meaning "to look".

This leads to two meanings for "Guggenbuhil":

A hill where one may hear the cuckoo calling; this meaning is favored by [Ried 1938], p 29, and [Seyler et al. 1975], p 65.
A lookout or a hill offering a good view; this meaning is favored by [Schobinger et al. 1949], [Brechenmacher 1957], p 608, and the Palatine Dictionary (Vol. 3, Col. 497).

As we will see in a moment there are many hills of such a name. And of those perhaps some may have offered (or still offer) a good view while on others you may hear the cuckoo's calling (with compliments to JKR 😉).

3. Where are sites named "Guggenbühl" or similar?

The change of "-buhil" to "-bühl" is characteristic for the area of Alemannic German, which spreads from the southern border of the Palatinate in the northeast to the river Lech in the east and the Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg in the southeast, from Rastatt and Stuttgart in the north down to the Aosta Valley in the south. In the summer of 2023 searching geographical databases like Google Maps or the geographic information system of the swiss canton Zurich yields references to sites of that name throughout the area of Alemannic German:

In the southern part of the Palatinate:
- 66996 Ludwigswinkel: the hill "Guckenbühl" to the south of the village;
In the southern part of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg:
- 78351 Bodman-Ludwigshafen: the street "Am Guggenbühl";
- 78266 Büsingen am Hochrhein (Landkreis Konstanz): the area "Guggenbühl";
- 88499 Emeringen, Alb-Donau-Kreis: the nature reserve "Guggenbühl";
- 78355 Hohenfels, district of Kalkofen: the hill Guckenbühl, location of Hohenfels castle;
- 79798 Jestetten: the street "Im Guggenberg";
- 78465 Konstanz (Litzelstetten): the street "Am Guckenbühl";
- 72537 Mehrstetten, Landkreis Reutlingen: the landscape protection area "Weide auf Irnestal und Guckenbühl";
- 88696 Owingen; the street "Zum Guggenbühl";
- 78315 Radolfzell am Bodensee: the street "Am Guggenbühl"
- 88662 Überlingen: the street "Im Guggenbühl";
- 78056 Villingen/Schwenningen, district of Mühlhausen: the street "Am Guckenbühl";
- 78052 Villingen/Schwenningen: the places "Oberer Guggenbühl" and "Unterer Guggenbühl" between the industrial area Vockenhausen and the city district of Obereschach. The hill itself is crowned by the radio tower "Villingen, Nordstetten".
In the suebian parts of Bavaria:
- 87452 Altusried: the street "Am Guggenbühl";
- 85298 Scheyern, Landkreis Pfaffenhofen: the street "Guckenbühl".
In Switzerland, particularly in the Canton of Zürich:
- 8453 Alten, Canton of Zürich: the street "Guggenbühl"
- 8586 Birwinken, Canton of Thurgau: the street "Guggenbühl" im Ortsteil Andwil
- 9215 Buhwil, Canton of Thurgau: the street "Guggenbühl"
- 8953 Dietikon, Canton of Zürich: the street "Guggenbühlstraße"
- 8586 Erlen, Canton of Thurgau: the street"Guggenbühlstraße"
- 8442 Hettlingen, Canton of Zürich: Flurname "Guggenbühl"
- 8308 Illnau, Canton of Zürich: the street "Im Guggenbüel"
- 9215 Kradolf-Schönenberg, Canton of Thurgau: the street "Guggenbühl"
- 8460 Marthalen, Canton of Zürich: the track "Guggenbüelstrass"
- 8932 Mettmenstetten, suburb Rossau, Canton of Zürich:
  - the area "Guggenbüel"
  - the street "Guggenbüelweg"
- 8555 Müllheim, the street "Guggenbühl"
- 8475 Ossingen, Canton of Zürich:
  - the area "Guggenbüel"
  - the street "Guggenbühl"
- 8911 Rifferswil, Canton of Zürich: the street "Guggenbüel"
- 9404 Rorschacherberg, Canton of St. Gallen: the street "Guggenbüel"
- 8478 Thalheim an der Thur, Canton of Zürich: the street "Guggenbühl"
- 8440 Thayngen, Canton of Schaffhausen: the street "Guggenbüehlweg"
- 8304 Wallisellen, Canton of Zürich: the street "Gugggenbühlstraße"
- 8404 Winterthur, Canton of Zürich:
  - the city district 220 "Guggenbühl" in Oberwinterthur
  - the street "Guggenbühlstraße"
  - the street "Im Guggenbühl"
- 6340 Baar, Canton of Zug: the street "Guggenbüel"
Furthermore, there must have been a "Guggenbúhel" near 8272 Ermatingen; it is mentioned in a document maintained in the Stiftsarchiv of St. Gallen..

While the change of "-buhil" to "-bühl" is characteristic for the area of Alemannic German, it elsewhere changed to "-bichl" or the modern high german "-berg". This is mirrored in the areas, places or streets named after such hills. In the summer 2023 German Wikipedia lists more than 30 villages or suburbs in Germany and Austria named "Guggenberg", more may be found in South Tyrol and Lorraine (e.g. the "Guckenberg" in 57410 Rohrbach-lès-Bitche). In other areas, "-buhil" changed to "-bichl". Beside the villages and suburbs named "Guggenbichl" in Bavaria and Austria listed in Wikipedia, it is the name of a mountain of 1860 m to the east of the Weißhorn and a lookout above the Rienz to the northeast of Brixen, both in Southern Tyrol.