Mueller surname meaning

Mueller is the spelling commonly used for German Müller, an occupational surname meaning “miller.” A Müller operated, owned, or leased a mill, and the trade was important enough to produce one of Europe’s most widespread occupational surnames. Mueller removes or transliterates the umlaut for languages and records that do not preserve ü; Muller and Möller are related forms. The surname therefore describes a trade, not necessarily a particular mill or village. Occupation is the high-confidence catalog type, while family research must still distinguish independent Müller families.