Surname Clausius - Meaning and Origin

Clausius: What does the surname Clausius mean?

The last name Clausius is derived from the German name Klaus, and refers to someone who is descended from someone with the same name. It is believed to originally be derived from the Middle High German name ‘Claus’, meaning ‘victor of the people’.

The name is also associated with the surname of the 19th century German physicist Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius, known for developing Thermal Dynamics and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This went on to become an important part of physics, so the name has become synonymous with science and research.

Clausius’s work in thermodynamics also led to a new scientific theory called ‘Clausius’s Theorem’, which states that the energy entering a system must always be greater than the energy leaving the system. This has become an important part of understanding how energy flows and is used in contemporary physics.

More generally, the name Clausius is a widely used name across many parts of Europe. It is popular in Russia, Hungary, and the sporting world, with a number of athletes having used the surname.

It is interesting to note that the name is also associated with a variety of different folk characters in Germany, with each having their own unique history and set of associations. This further adds to the rich history that the name carries with it.

Ultimately, the last name Clausius carries a great deal of history, having been associated with the famous 19th century physicist, as well as a rich range of folklore characters. It is also a popular European name, especially in Russian and Hungary.

Clausius: Where does the name Clausius come from?

The last name Clausius is most commonly found in Germany, followed by Austria and Poland. It is likely that the Clausius name originated in the German region known as Saxony and its origins have been traced back to the 1600s.

In German, the compound word 'Clausius' can be broken down to two parts: 'Claus' and 'ius'. The first part 'Claus' is thought to stem from a Germanic masculine personal name, which in turn is derived from the Latin word 'Claudius'. The suffix 'ius', meanwhile, suggests the bearer held or was a descendant of a free man who lived throughout the Germanic domains in the regions now known as Germany, Austria, and Poland.

The surname Clausius is quite rare, though there are still a small number of families bearing the name in parts of Europe. For example, in Austria, there are communities where the name is relatively prominent, including a number of villages in the states of Lower and Upper Austria. Meanwhile, in Germany, the largest concentration of people named Clausius is found in the eastern part of the country, particularly in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. In Poland, the Clausius surname is particularly common around the city of Poznan, in the Greater Poland Voivodeship.

The surname Clausius has also been found in England, where some families bearing the name can trace their ancestry back to German settlers who emigrated to England in the 1700s. In the United States, the Clausius name can be found in communities that are descended from German settlers from the 1700s and 1800s.

Overall, the surname Clausius remains quite rare today, but can still be found in pockets in Germany, Austria, Poland, England, and the United States.

Variations of the surname Clausius

Clausius is a surname of German origin derived from an Old German personal name Claus, meaning 'victor of the people'. It could also have derived from the Middle German verb clausen, meaning 'to close'.

Variants and spellings of the surname Clausius include Klause, Clowsen, Klowski, Klavs, Clausen, Knous, and Klauck.

The popular Swedish version of the surname is Clausson, which could also be written as Claussun, Claesson, Claessun, or Claesen. It is the patronymic form of the given name Claes, which originated from one of the pet forms of the Greek name Nicholas.

In the Netherlands, the name Clausius is written as Claesen. It is an occupational name referring to someone who worked with clay, and comes from the Middle Dutch verb klæsen, meaning 'to mold with clay'.

A variant of the Dutch name is Claessen. This version of the surname descends from a Latin Latin surname Claudianus, which means 'lame', and originates from the old Latin given name Clodianus.

In Germany, the variant Clauss is also found but this is mainly a contracted form of Clausius.

The variants of the surname Clausius are varied in form and spellings, and illustrate the prefixes or suffixes that were added or dropped from the original name as it spread around Europe.

Famous people with the name Clausius

• Rudolph Clausius: 19th century German physician and professor of surgery
• Auguste Claußius: 19th century Danish ophthalmologist and entomologist
• Hugo Clausius: 19th century German politician and editor
• Carl Clausius: 20th century German physicist and professor at the University of Frankfurt
• Karl Clausius: 20th century German chemical physicist
• William Clausius: 20th century Scottish physicist, Frisch-Clausius professor at the University of Aberdeen
• Moritz Hermann von Jacobi: 19th century German mathematician and inventor who developed the Clausius–Jacobi–Walther theorem
• Ferdinand Christian Cornelius Clausius: 19th century German chapel, church music director, and composer
• Arnold Claus: 20th century Dutch track and field athlete
• William Julius Walther Clausius: 19th century mathematician and professor of mathematics at the University of Kiel

Other surnames

Clausing