I believe the GAUER family began in Germany but a phonetically identical surname (GAUER/GOWER/GWYR/GOHIERE) seems to have popped up about the same time in Germany, England, Wales and France in the 10th - 13th centuries. The numerous sources I have researched don't agree much about the exact derivation of the GAUER surname. There are, however, a number of tantalizing clues.
The first possibility is that the GAUER name comes from the widespread custom of people taking the name of their town as their last name. Thus literally the Gauer patronym means:
Gau: area, province, district
Er: suffix meaning inhabitant, originating in... the nickname of a man of the village compared to the townsman12.
There are a number of towns that are possibilities here. The most probable is Gauern near Gera in Thuringia, 100 km south of modern Leipzig. Gauern is mentioned in many references 1,2,7,9,10 as the actual source of the GAUER surname. Also mentioned are the towns of Gauernitz & Gauernitz-Wildberg1 beside each other on the Saale river. Other possible but less likely towns are Gauersheim (303 miles SW of Berlin)14, Gauerstadt (188 miles SW of Berlin)14 and finally Gauert which is 152 miles WNW of Berlin14.
The second possiblity was the custom of using your trade as your last name (eg Bauer=Farmer, Hauer=Lumberman). Bahlow1 ascribes GAUER in the Rhine area as the Middle High German "gouwer" which means "squire" or "farmer". Linnartz6 indicates GAUER means literally "handworker of the land" (Handewerker auf dem Lande / Landmann).
Gottschald3 mentions derivations from Slavic names (slawisch personenname) of Gabor & Gawor. He also indicates3 GAUER is a diminutive (verkleinerungsform) of names like Gaworek, Gawor, Gabor, Gaber, Gabert or Gauerke.
The GOWER surname would seem to be a natural anglicization of GAUER but there is a spirited discussion as to whether there is any familial connection at all5. Irene May Gower in the GAUER-GOWER Family4 book she published in 1939 uses GAUER and GOWER interchangeably. She feels the GAUER surname originated from the Turkish word "Giaour" meaning "Are you Christian?" (during the Crusades?) and that the family dates back to the 10th century in England. She also mentioned a William Fitz-Guhyer Lord of Stittham in York county around the time of the Norman conquest. Another reference 8 mentions a Gryffydd(Griffith) Gwyr(ca.1050 AD) who was Lord of the Gwyr (region in ancient Wales). The area of Gwyr is now the modern Gower Peninsula in Glamorgan, Wales15. Other references8,11 point to the French towns of Gohiere or Gouy which are in the "Goelle" region north of Paris which was anciently known as "Gohiere". A number of researchers4 have seen their ancestors surnames spelt both ways. I doubt we will ever absolutely settle this discussion5 but it will always be interesting and enlightening.
There are various historical records of GAUERs dating back to the 1300s. A Conradus Von GAUER is first mentioned in records in 1347 in Kynitz, a Goetz Von GAUER is mentioned in 1398 at Planswitz, a Michel Von GAUER is mentioned in 1430 in Lichtentanne, a Jost Von GAUER and an Oswald Von GAUER received entitlement to the Von prefix in 1510 at Barenwalde and a Georges Von GAUER is mentioned in 1530 in Lichtentanne 13. A Catherine Von GAUER married Chevalier Otto Von Tumpling in 1556 and a Margeurite Von GAUER married Chevalier Salomon Von Pollnitz in 1566 13. There was a Wernher GAUWER, knight, in 1283 1 and a Henne GAUWER in Frankfurt in 13871. A Clemens GAWERN is mentioned in Crimmitschau, Saarbrucken in 15192.
No-one has yet succeeded in documenting the definite derivation of the GAUER surname and it really seems there is no clear single patriarch of the GAUER family. However, each new piece of evidence moves us closer. Please email me if you have any further evidence of how the GAUER surname developed or very early GAUER genealogicial information.
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