Copenhaver Family Crest / Copenhaver Coat of Arms
This surname was a German and Danish surname, the Americanized form of KOPENHOFER, meaning ‘one who came from Copenhagen’ in Denmark.
Surnames derived from placenames are divided into two broad categories; topographic names and habitation names. Topographic names are derived from general descriptive references to someone who lived near a physical feature such as an oak tree, a hill, a stream or a church. Habitation names are derived from pre-existing names denoting towns, villages and farmsteads.
Other classes of local names include those derived from the names of rivers, individual houses with signs on them, regions and whole countries. The name is also spelt COPENHOVER, COPENHEFFER and COPENHAFER and the name was taken from the capital and chief port of Denmark, Copenhagen, on the east coast of Sjaelland. It is now an industrial as well as commercial and shipping centre, with engineering, food processing and brewing.
Its most notable buildings include the 17th century Charlottenborg Palace (now the Royal Acadamy of Arts) and Christiansborg Palace (now the parliamentary and government buildings). Copenhagen has been a settlement from the year 900AD. and became the capital of Denmark in 1443.
Over the centuries it has been involved in many wars; it was attacked by the Hanseatic League in the middle ages and by Sweden in the 17th century. In 1802 the Danish Fleet was destroyed by Nelson at the battle of Copenhagen. In 1728, and again in 1795, it was badly destroyed by fire.
There is a record of one Mary COPHENHEFFER, who was the wife of Jacob Forrey, who lived in West Hempfield township of Lancaster County Pa. She died in 1843. She was a member of the Mennonite Church, and gave birth to two sons, John and Jacob. The practice of adopting surnames spread to Denmark and Norway from Germany, during the late Middle Ages, but until the 19th century, they were neither fixed nor universal. The Danish state has in recent years been encouraging the adoption of a wider range of surnames.