Kaiser is a surname derived from the German imperial title Kaiser (English: emperor). The title Kaiser is in turn derived from the Latin title Caesar, which again is a derivation from the personal name of a branch of the gens (clan) Julia, to which belonged Gaius Julius Caesar, the forebear of the first Roman imperial family.

The name is not especially frequent (ca. 0.05% in Germany), but it is still ranked 41st in Germany as of 2000).[1] Regions in Germany where it is more frequent are central Germany and the southern half of the Black Forest area, and to a lesser extent Southern Germany.[2] It is also used in Austria and the Czech Republic.

Variation spellings rooted in the Kaiser surname are Kayser, Kaijser, Keiser, Kiser, and Kyser. Dutch cognates of the surname include Keizer, (De) Keijzer, (De) Keyser, and Dekeyser.

Notable people with the surname

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References

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  1. ^ Doerling, Peter. "Die häufigsten 100 Nachnamen in Deutschland" [The 100 most frequent surnames in Germany] (in German). Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  2. ^ "Relative Verteilung des Namens 'Kaiser'" [Relative distribution of the name 'Kaiser']. www.verwandt.de/karten (in German). Hamburg (Germany) resp. London (UK): OSN Online Social Networking GmbH resp. MyHeritage (UK) Ltd. 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2010.