Bauernfeind

Bauernfeind (variant "Bauerfeind") is a German surname. It originates as a byname, literally "peasants' enemy", in the late medieval period, before that (12th century) a comparable "Geburenhasz" is on record. The form "Geburnvint" is found in the poem Der Renner (c. 1290) as a generic byname of "villains". Historical spelling variants include "Pawrnfeynt, Pawrveint, Gebure vient". Specific individuals with the byname are on record in the 15th century, so Heintz von Redwitz. Later, the byname was generically applied to men-at-arms or Landsknechte who chastised the peasant population in the service of a feudal lord. The gradual development into a surname takes place in the course of the 16th century.
The name has survived into the contemporary period, with currently (as of 2013) 748 entries in the German phonebook, the greatest concentration of people with the name found in Bavaria, and 398 entries for the variant "Bauerfeind", with a concentration in North Rhine-Westphalia.
People with the surname: