Segebrecht

Recorded in many spellings including Siebert, Ziebart, Siebart, Segebrecht, Sagebrecht, Siebrecht, Zieprecht, Sibbert, Sagebarth, Sebrecht, Siebe, Sibbe, Siebecke and others, this is a surname of ancient Germanic origins. It derives from the pre 7th century words 'sigi' meaning victory, and 'berht', famous, to give a compound personal name of 'Famous-victory'. As to whether this name refers to a particular victory in ancient times or is simply an ornamental name which sounded rather nice, is unproven. What is certain is that in the period of what is known in history as 'The Dark Ages', which was roughly from the time of the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the coming of Emperor Charlemagne in the 9th, Europe was a place of anarchy. The people longed for a renewal of strong government, and their 'names' of this period reflected their needs. In this case the (sur)name first appears in surviving rolls, charters and registers, in the 12th century when one Sibertus de Frankenburg is so recorded in the year 1153, with that of Johan Sieberth of Ravensburg in 1219 and slightly later Georg Siberdt of Mugeln in 1489.