Schout

Recorded in over forty spelling forms including Schult, Schulter, Schulz, Schultz, Schultze, Schulthe, Schulthiss, Scholtis, Schulte, Schout, Soltys, Sule, Sole, Scholzel, Schuling, Schouteden, and Szulczewski, this is a medieval surname of pre 7th century Olde High German origins. It is recorded in its myriad spellings in Switzerland, Germany, Flanders, Poland, The Netherlands, and the Czech and Slovak republics. Deriving from the word 'schulheize', the original meaning was a collector of dues and taxes on behalf of the lord of the manor, but by the 13th century it had the more specific meaning of head man or alderman of the village. The surname was also locational in that there were places called 'Schultz' or similar, the Polish version of Szulczewski specifically describing a family of landowners from Szulcz. Early examples of the surname recording taken from authentic charters and registers of the Middle Ages include Godescalus Sculte, a burger of Hamburg in the year 1249, Cuonradus Scultus of Zurich, Switzerland, in 1258, Nicolas Schultetus, the Burgermeister of Chemnitz in 1357, and Klaus Schultz of Ratsherren near Stolp in 1476.