According to some sources, the surname Hochreiter appears to be southern German. My branch of Hochreiters immigrated to America from Moosbach, Germany. Moosbach is a small village in the Oberpfalz district of Bavaria. This market town lies approximately 10 km from the Czech border southeast of Weiden. In his book Geschichte des Marktes Moosbach, Siegfried Poblotski cites the Hochreiter name in a list of Moosbach families dated 1690. Checks of German telephone directories show a concentration of Hochreiters in the southern areas of Germany, particularly Bavaria. Even more Hochreiter listings are found in Austrian directories. So it appears that the Hochreiter name may have originated in the southern and alpine areas of Germany and Austria. Indeed, the name Hochreiter translated from German literally means “high or tall” (hoch) and “rider or horseman” (reiter). This meaning would support an occupational evolution of the name. But various surname dictionaries relate the name Hochreiter to Hochreuter. The Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, (ISBN 0-190508137-4) states that the surname “Hochreiter is from the South German: a topographic name for someone who lived on or owned a piece of high-lying cleared land, from Middle High German hohe “high” + riute “cleared land” + the agent suffix –er.” My own genealogical research shows various spellings for the same family including Hochreuter, Hochreutter, and Hochreitter.

It was estimated by one study in 1996 that there were about 200 Hochreiter households in the United States. The Hochreiter name at that time appeared in telephone books in 25 states. The most frequent listings were in New York and Pennsylvania. Worldwide, the most households were listed in Austria (641) and Germany (252). Additionally, there were listings in Canada (13), Australia (6), Switzerland (3), and South Africa (4).

Although many of us would not consider ourselves close cousins, there is a possibility that we are distantly related sometime in the past. There are many Hochreiter surname branches in the United States and Europe that cannot be connected together through civil or church records. It would be very interesting to determine origins of the Hochreiter name and the relationship of the various branches throughout the world. This Y DNA project is an initial step to help sort out the various branches and determine our relationships. It would be most interesting to find any close connections between the various immigrants to America, as well as trace the Hochreiter name to its historical origins and diaspora around the world.

A Surname Project traces members of a family that share a common surname. Since surnames are passed down from father to son like the Y-chromosome, this test is for males taking a Y-DNA test.
A surname DNA project can help you
·Confirm relationships identified by traditional genealogy
·Locate related families lost through the passage of time
·Identify the origin of the family’s early ancestors
·Find other families who share your genetic ancestor(s)
·Connect with a community of researchers
To participate in the Hochreiter DNA study, click on the Join Project button at this site. That will allow you to fill out a Hochreiter Project Join Request. Note that we now recommend the 37-marker Y-DNA test, and need to have whatever family history you know about your Hochreiter ancestry to be of most help. Also, note that the person being tested must be a male with the Hochreiter (or spelling variation) surname. Several family members (father, sons, brothers, grandsons) may sponsor one person to provide the sample DNA. Prices are discounted for participants of this project. If you have questions, please contact the Hochreiter Project Administrator at the listed e-mail address above.