Surnames were not used during the Middle Ages. A man was just John or Hermann or
whatever. England and France started using them about 1300. Germany was always
behind the others, and it wasn't until nearly 1600 that they were used in Germany. Even
then, the usage was inconsistent. A person might give one surname at one time, another
at another. Only when the churches began keeping records after 1600 did the usage
become more consistent. 

One way surnames were passed down was by the name of the place where the people
lived. The farmsteads, called "Hofs" (long "o", rhymes with "loaf") were in the villages;
the land they farmed was out from the village. Each Hof had a name. Hof Number 20 in
the village of Häver was called "Kellerhof". My Kellermeier ancestors lived there. 

I found an explanation on the Internet of a hyphenated name; it said that when property 
(inherited tenancy) was divided, the larger portion would be called Grosse-Whatever, 
and the smaller portion would be called Kleine-Whatever, and the people would use the 
name of the property. Gross-Bulk & Kleine-Bredenecker are among my ancestor's
surnames.

By the late 1700's and 1800's, people took their names with them when they moved 
instead of taking the name of the Hof where they moved. Immigration to the Americas 
was made possible by the freeing of the serfs in the early 1800's. Germany, as usual, 
was behind the other countries of Western Europe. English and French serfs were 
freed before 1500. Serf conditions in Germany were worse than anywhere in Europe 
except Russia and East Europe. The serfs in Russia were freed in 1861, the same year 
as Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in America. Germany was ahead of Russia by 
only 30 or 40 years in making these reforms. 

Serfs were sort of half slave, half free. They were "owned" by their lord and could not 
leave the land, and they had to pay rents to the lord for the use of their land. Payments 
of some kind were made at almost every occasion of their lives. It was not a pleasant 
life. But on the other hand, they could not be ejected from the land. It was a system 
of "inherited tenancy." They were listed as "owners" but what they "owned" was the 
right to rent the land from generation to generation. 

Germany is a land not much bigger than the state of Oregon, but there are at least a 
dozen basic dialects of the German language. People who speak one dialect cannot 
understand those who speak another. In general, the northern dialects are called 
"Plattdeutsch" (Low German), since that area is a lowland. The dialects of the 
mountainous south are called the "high German" dialects. To confuse the issue, a 
'court language" developed out of the high German dialects, which is today called 
"Hochdeutsch" (High German), and is generally recognized as the "educated" 
German. It is what you hear on the radio and is what you will learn in school if you 
study German. There are also numerous sub-dialects. Since the Saxon low German 
dialect is akin to the old Anglo-Saxon language of England, low German is closer
to English. "Twenty", for example, is "zwanzig" in high German and 'twentig" in low
German. Many other words are also more similar to English. 

Commoners who farmed were called "peasants". Peasants in turn were divided into two
classes: Free farmers and serfs. Serfs were only a tad above slaves. They were "bound
to the soil" and could not move without their master's permission. They had to pay him
for the privilege of tilling their allotted area--in early times, in grain, milk, cheese, pigs,
chickens, and the like; later on, in money. They had to ask his permission to marry. When
a serf died, his lord had the say-so over half of his movable goods. However, he was
guaranteed the right to farm his bit of land and for his heirs to inherit that right. This is
what he "owned" when the old records list him as "owner." Serfdom died out in most of
Western Europe by 1500. In Germany, it lasted until the early 19th century. 

Robert Lowie in his book Toward Understanding Germany gives us a glimpse of the life
of the peasants. He tells us that there were differences of rank among the peasants, from
the most important to the least important: 

"Foremost was the Meier or Schulte, originally the headman of the settlement and
economically characterized by the use of from six to ten horses in tillage. ...Locally, the
proprietor of a somewhat smaller farm was called the Höner. Next came the owner of
from four to six horses, the Vollbauer. Below him ranked the cotter (Kötter or Halbbauer,
half-peasant with only one to three horses at his disposal and commonly obliged to go into
service or to take up a trade There were Westphalians who kept no horses at all,
working their plots with oxen or cows, and who lived in a cottage called Stelle; if this
stood on communal ground, the inmate was called Brinksitzer; if it was located on a full
peasant's Hof (farmstead), he was an Einwohner, Einlieger, or Huerling hireling).' 

Lowie describes the means by which a girl was often married. The father hears of or
knows a young man who has a good background and proper economic circumstances. He
sends for the young man...The daughter's wishes are not consulted, but sometimes she
does get to go along for the inspection ("B'schau) of the young man's estate, where the
father "carefully examines the dungheap, the stable, the livestock and the granary. He
discusses the matter with his wife, never with the girl herself, and if all is well, a notary is
engaged to draw up the contract. Such an agreement was meant to be strictly adhered to;
...Westphalians cancelled weddings because the bride's parents refused to give up a
copper kettle or a spinning wheel that had been stipulated in the bond." 

Up to the time of Napoleon, who conquered Germany in the early 1800's, there were 
over 300 independent states and several thousand "estates". These estates were no 
bigger than large farms, but completely independent with no one to answer to but the 
nobleman who owned the estate. 

Napoleon conquered Germany in the early 1800's. He reduced this number of states to 
30 and put one of his relatives in command of each of them. When he was defeated 
and driven out (1814--1815), the number of states stayed at 30 but they did not stay 
united. In the 1860's, Bismarck, the chancellor (prime minister) to the King of Prussia, 
made use of a series of wars to get the German states to unite, and in 1870 Germany 
finally became a country. King Wilhelm of Prussia became Kaiser Wilhelm I of 
Germany. ("Kaiser" means "Caesar" or "Emperor") It was his son, Kaiser Wilhelm II, 
who led Germany in World War I. 

Peasants often named their children after their rulers. Many of the German
Kellermeiers had Friedrich or Wilhelm (or both) in their names, and the names Fred 
and William have continued to be popular among American Kellermeiers. 

Early German law mandated that all children must have a German given name and it is 
apparent  that the list of approved names was not extensive. Heinrich, Wilhelm, 
Gerhard, Hermann, Friedrich, Christian and Johann were popular names for boys. 
Some of the most popular names for girls were Maria, Catharina, Elisabeth, Eliesa, 
Anna and Wilhelmiena.

Friedrich Wilhelm Niederwörder married the heir of the Kellerhof; Anna Marie Ilsabe 
Kellermeyer. When Friedrich moved there, he became Friedrich Wilhelm Niederwörder 
gennant (called) Kellermeyer. This is another instance of the name going with the
farm, instead of the individual. The last child of this marriage; Friedrick Wilhelm Gottlieb
maintained the surname- Niederworder gennant (called) Kellermeyer until 1955 when 
the family had the Niederworder name legally dropped.

My oldest Niederwörder was born- Johann Friedrich Wörder. This is another example
of a hyphenated name, his surname changed to Nieder-Wörder (Nieder= low, common).