Origins of the Greathouse Surname

The Greathouse surname has it's origin in English or German. Greathouse is not a traditional name. It is of a more local origin as the Greathouse surname is explained as "a designation often given to the principal house of a district, usually that of a large proprietor." The name therefore may have been used by one living near a "great house" or castle. The German surname Grosshaus may have been Englished as Greathouse.

The GREATHOUSE surname has many variations, which may include the following:

GREATHOUSE

1. North German and Dutch: Americanized form of Grothaus, habitational name from any of various farms so called, literally ‘big house’, in particular one in Westphalia.

GROTHAUS

1. North German: topographic name for someone who lived in or by a large house or farmstead, from Low German grot(h) ‘large’, ‘great’ + central or standard German Haus ‘house’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

GREATHOUSE

1. English: Dweller near, or worker in, the big house.

New Dictionary of American Family Names by E.C. Smith.

GROTHAUS, GROTHHAUS, GROTHUSEN

1. German: Large house.

German-American Names by George F. JONES.

With thanks to Barbara LaChance for the lookups.

Soundex Code for Greathouse = G632

GREATHOUSE Surname Distribution in the U.S.

1850, 1880, 1920, 1990.

GROTHAUS Surname Distribution in the U.S.

1920, 1990.

Other Notes

It is also interesting to note that the Shawnee Indians, who were prevalent along the Ohio River while WV was being settled, called their place of worship the "Great House". Workers in the "Great House", medicine men or shaman often were given the tribal name of Greathouse.