A site dedicated to the Knoop family name.
Looking for information on Christopher Columbus Knoop, lived in Engleood Ohio, Montgomery county. Believe he may have been born 1875 in Holland. He sold the vegetables he grew on his famr , from the backof his truck, in Dayton, Ohio
Contact me for Tina’s contact information or signup and post a reply!
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Abstract: The family name of Knoop is probably named after a Danish Viking king, King Gnupa, who lived during the 10th century. The exact spelling of “Gnupa” is open to discussion, because the Vikings used a different alphabet to ours, and there are not always direct equivalents to our letters. Today the spelling “Knoop” and “Knop” are predominant for King Gnupa’s descendants, be they direct (fathered by the King Gnupa, or indirect (by his wider family).
In 891 Olaf won the battle of lion in the Brabant region of what is now Belgium. With this battle Olaf began to conquer the Danish Viking crown, which he achieved around 900. This was the beginning of the Olafidian dynasty. Olaf died as the King of Denmark around 906, leaving the crown to his son Gyrd, who died in 916. After that Gyrd’s younger brother Gnupa was crowned Viking king of Denmark, and lived in the largest Danish settlement called Haitabu, close to what is now the city of Schleswig in northern Germany. King Gnupa married Astrid, the daughter of an influential Danish earl named Odinkar. King Chnuba lost the first Danish-German war in 934 against the German King Heinrich 1. King Chnuba was baptised and forced to pay tribute, according to a contemporary report from Widukind of Corvey. Their son, Sigtrygg, the last Olafidian King, lost a battle at Haitabu to Hardegon in 940. In that battle Sigtrygg’s troops were wiped out. Gorm became the new King of Denmark, and drove Sigtrygg out of the country. Sigtrygg died in a battle of Normandy in 942. The Gormidian dynasty lasted until 1157. Adam of Bremen interviewed the Danish King Estridsen in 1070 in Roskilde, who is supposed to have said „ Olaf’s saga is tradition in the Danish court!“ and named Olaf, Gyrd, Chnob, and Sigtrygg as early Viking Kings baptized to Christianity, while writing the history of the church of Hamburg (“Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum”). Viking descendents are known until this day for telling stories of their forefathers, and this verbal heritage helps replace the general lack of written history in their culture. While researching the name Knop/Knoop, Adolf Knop came across reports from Knoop’s, that tell of the origin of their name from King Gnupa.
When King Gnupa lost the battle against Heinrich I. in 934, he probably had to give family members as hostages to secure the payment of the tributary. This was a common part of peace contracts in ancient and medieval times. Based on the distribution of the Knoops in old historical records, these hostages were possibly taken to the area around Celle, in Lower Saxony. After Sigtrygg lost power six years later, the remaining hostages were not bailed out by his successor Gorm. To distinguish the royal, foreign hostages from others, they were given the last name of Knopa. The last name Knop is to be found in the oldest documents in and around Celle, dating from the 13th century. Most of the people in Lower Saxony) did not have a last name until the 14th or 15th century. Mainly royalty used last names in the 10th and 11th century.
Ex-Queen Astrid had two runes made in memory of her son Sigtrygg. One of the runes was written in old Swedish and the other in old Danish, probably to cater to the two language groups who lived in Haitabu. These runes are now in the museum at Haitabu. Asfrid, the daughter of Odinkar, created these monuments for King Sigtrygg, her and Gnupa’s son. Gorm engraved the rune. The small Sigtrygg rune was written in old Danish. The large Sigtrygg rune was written in old Swedish with the following text: “Astrid made these monuments for Sigtrygg, her and Gnupa’s son.” The runes were written in “younger Futhark”, and the letters do not translate directly into our alphabet. For this reason the exact translation of each letter is open to interpretation. “Gnupa” could have been spelled in many different ways, according to our alphabet.
K, G, C or Ch
n
o or u
p or b
a
Widukind of Corvey spelled it “Chnuba”, Adam of Bremen “Chnob”, while the Danish historian Hennig Hellmuth Andersen chose to spell it “Gnupa”. Later generations usually spelt it “Knop” at first, with the “o” pronounced long as in “snow”.
The “a” at the end of the “Knopa” was dropped, similarly to many such endings in old lower German. Adam of Bremen already reported the name without an “a” at the end.
In the middle ages a long vowel was sometimes emphasised by the addition of a silent “e”, “i”, “y” in Germany. “Knop” became “Knoep”, “Knoip” or “Knoyp”. The most common change became “Knoop”, which is the predominant form today, along with “Knop”. All of these names are pronounced in the same way.
It has been suggested that “Knoop” comes from Knopf (button) or Knauf (knob), but this is probably not true. “KN” is of Indo-Germanic origin and means gnarled, knobby, knotty, thickened or small and compact. Other words using this root are Knoedel (dumpling), Knolle (lump), Knospe (bud) or Knirps (tiny tot or small child). Another group of words describe a hill or mound in various old German dialects; Knobbe, Knopp, Knipp, Knubbe. People named after words using this root often have a small, stout, compact body stature. The Knoops/Knops usually have a large stature. It is not likely that a group of large people were named after a knob, dumpling or mound. A second difference is that the “o” in Knoop/Knop is pronounced long (like “snow”) and not short (like “knob”). All words derived from the Indo-Germanic “KN” have a short “o” following. The third argument against this sort of a root is that Knop/Knoop is found in the earliest records, before the time that non-royal people had last names. The story of descending from the family of King Gnupa has also been passed on through the generations to some of the Knoops living these days, according to Adolf Knop. The origin of the name Knoop/Knop is probably derived from King Gnupa, and not named after a “Knopf” or “Knauf”.
The views presented in this article are a summary of the thoughts in the book written and published by Adolf Knop. This book was written in German, so this article offers a translation for English speaking readers. If you have any changes, additions or comments to this topic feel free to contact me over the www.knoop.org website.
Steffen Knoop
References:
Steffen and his three sons, Tiemo, Lukas and Silas, with the large Sigtrygg rune in Haitabu.
Klaus was #53 from the Stammtafel.
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Klaus Johann Knoop, geb. 22.8.1895 in Bergedorf, ist Kaufmann. Zuerst ist er als kaufännischer Angestellter tätig, seit dem 1.4.1932 ist er Mitinhaber der Speditionsfirma Weber u. Guhl in Hamburg. Er war Kriegsteilnehmer am 1. Weltkrieg 1914-18 und Inhaber des E.K.II, des Hanseatenkreuzes und des Verwundetenabzeichens. Auch am 2. Weltkrieg 1939-45 nahm er teil.
Er wohnt in Geesthacht-Düneberg, Langer Kamp 1, wo er sich im Jahre 1925/26 ein eigenes Wohnhaus hatte bauen lassen. Klaus stirbt am 9.11.1955 in Geesthach am Herzschlag. Klaus heiratete am 20.2.1928 in Hohenaspe Kr. Steinburg Magda Löptien, die am 3.4.1897 dort geborene Tochter des Lehrers Heinrich Joachim Löptien und dessen Frau Catharina geb. Trede in Hohenaspe.
Folgende Kinder dieser Ehe wurden in Hamburg geboren:
a) Anna-Katarina, geb. 30.1.1929. Sie verlobt sich im September 1954 mit Heribert E.W. Kuhlen aus Sohlingen-Ohligs.
b) Peter Otto, geb. 15.4.1930. Er ist Kaufmann; nach Beendigung der Lehre geht er nach Westafrika, wo er z.Zt. (1957) mit seiner Frau lebt. Er heiratet am 25.8.1955 in Geesthacht Ursula Staack aus Reinbek.
Here is entry #54 from my great uncle’s Stammtafel document.
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Robert Knoop, geb. 30.1.1899 in Besenhorst, ist Schlosser. Von einer 4-monatigen Unterbrechung abgesehn, ist er seit dem 10.11.1926 beim Hamburgischen Staat tätig. Er wohnt z.Zt. (1957) in Düneberg, Besenhorst Nr. 16a, wo er sich 1928/29 ein eigenes Wohnhaus hatte bauen lassen.
Am Weltkrieg 1914-18 nahm er als Soldat der Fliegertruppe in Frankreich teil. Er ist Inhaber des Verdienstkreuzes für Front-kämpfer.
Er heiratete am 24.9.1923 in Hamburg Martha Hillmann. Sie wurde am 14.9.1895 in Hamburg also Tochter des Sattlers und Tapezierers Wilhelm Hillmann und dessen Frau Dorothea geb. Ihnlenfeldt geboren.
Dieser Ehe entstammen folgende Kinder, all in Hamburg geboren:
a) Hellmuth, geb. 1.1.1926; er fiel im 2. Weltkrieg 1939-45.
b) Wolfgang, geb. 22.1.1927; er fiel ebenfalls im 2. Weltkrieg 1939-45.
c) Marietta Helene Dorothea, geb. 3.1.1928. Sie ist Lehrerin an der Handelsschule in Hamburg-Bergedorf.
Also ich wohne in Winsen Aller das ist eine Gemeinde bei Celle.
In dieser Region leben eine Vielzahl von Knop/Knoop .
In den 30er Jahren des letzten Jahrhundert wurde hier in Niedersachsen ein Knop -Verein gegründet der sich zur Aufgabe gemacht hatte die Geschichte und Herkunft der Knop/Knoop zu erforschen.
Im Stadtarchiv der Stadt Celle gibt es ein Buch über die Knop`s, in dem beschrieben ist wo die Knop herkommen. In der *Zeitschrift für Niederdeutsche Familienkunde* http://www.genealogienetz.de/publikationen/znf/index.html kann man viel über unseren Namen erfahren.Unsere Familie gibt es schon seit dem 16 Jahrhundert in Winsen. Wir hatten im Ort einen Halbhof, die Nachkommen haben in der Landwirtschaft gearbeitet. Mein Urgroßvater Wilhelm Knop geb. 1868 hat auf den Ölfeldern in Wietze gearbeitet.Mein Urgroßvater hatte nur einen Sohn der ebenfalls Wilhelm Knop hieß und 1898 geboren wurde.
Wilhelm Knop, mein Großvater hatte zwei Töchter (Zwillinge geb 1924) wovon eine, Herta Knop einen Sohn hat, mich ,da ich unehelich geboren wurde ,trage auch ich den Namen Knop.Bis Bald
Rainer Knop
Jasper writes:
My name is Jasper Knoop from Kerkdriel and I was born in Lieshout (1964) and have two brothers, Koen (1962) and Sjef (1958). My father is Andre Knoop (1924), son of Sjef Knoop (1891). Sjef and his brother Machiel were the only remaining children of Dries Knoop and Maria Mennen. As far as I now, only Sjef took care of the offspring. Dries had a brother Gerrit and a sister Dien. Their father was Giel Knoop, their mother is unknown to me. These generations have lived in Oosterhout and Made en Drimmelen, in the mid-west of the Netherlands, and is mainly a clan of master builders. My father thinks the very early Knoops go back to Friesland, North of the Netherlands.Met vriendelijke groet,Jasper Knoop