Henning (surname)

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The name Henning is indigenous to the North German areas Mecklenburg, Hannover, Hamburg, Holstein and Pommern. Especially the towns Stralsund and Greifswald, in Mecklenburg, near the Baltic Sea is well known as places where the name originated. Both towns formed part of Denmark up until the Thirty Years' War (1618 — 1648).

Between the years 1300 and 1500 the name HENNING was used as a popular nickname for “the Son of John (Johannes)”. In the old Baltic dialect a rooster was called a “Hen” (hen = male, henne = female). The Baltic (or North German) “ing” was added to indicate that it was a name deduced from the name of a father or ancestor.

The name originated amongst noblemen and knights, such as^[1]:

Henning = Johannes Older, who lived during 1290 in the vicinity of Stralsund;
Henning = Johannes Brunswick, who lived during 1305 at Kolberg. Today Kolberg is in Poland, but during 1305 it formed part of the country which is known today as Germany.
Henning = Johannes Dotenberg (Knight) who lived during 1326 in the vicinity of Greiffswald. It is suspected that he was a descendant of Johannes Older.
Earl Henning of Irkesleve who lived during 1330 in Haldslohe.

During the 13/14th centuries the descendants of these first Hennings spread over the areas today known as Germany, Denmark and Norway. All records from this time unfortunately were destroyed.

During the 17th and 18th Centuries several Hennings moved elsewhere — also to the new world. Today we find one of the biggest Henning clans in South Africa. However, we find Henning families in almost every civilised country in the Western world.

A few Henning descendants, however, remained in the vicinity of Stralsund and Greifswald. It is known that Jacob Henning (the old) was born during 1635 at Demmin (near Greiffswald). Jacob Henning and his descendants became known as the Henning Family of Karnin. Karnin is approximately 25 km from Stralsund. Jacob Henning and his descendants were big and wealthy property owners, who lived in a castle. This castle was confiscated during 1945, during the Second World War, by the communist government who took over Eastern Germany. Consequently this family spread over Western Germany.