Village names related to the surname Nendel
The names of locations, which today contain the syllable Nend- oder Nent-, are put down to the existence of Germanic clan chieftains or farm owners with the name Nendilo. These are the South German villages Nendingen, Nentmannsreuth, Nentschau, Nendlberg und Nendlnach, and also the village Stegaurach near Bamberg, which was first mentioned in the year 973 a.d. as „Nendelin Uraha“. It was donated on June 27th by the emperor Otto II. to Heinrich, the Duke of Bavaria, together with the town of Bamberg. Nendelin Uraha is today translated as „the waters of Nendilo, where the aurochs grazes“. A few miles to the South-West lies Nenzenheim. For Nenzenheim it is not quite clear if also one Nendilo can be accounted for being the founder, but at least it is almost sure that the town was founded in the same period as Nendelin Uraha, when the Franks took land along the river Main. The ending "-heim" is typical for Franconian settlements of that period.
The name of the municipality Nendingen presumably goes back to a chieftain Nendo who is said to have settled near Tuttlingen between 260 and 300 a.d. In today`s South Germany settlement names ending with „-ing(en)“ are derived from the name of the local chieftain. In a battle between the Lentienses and the Franks in the year 378 a.d. a warlord called Nannienus was mentioned. The Lentienses were a Alemannic tribe in the North of Lacus Brigantiae (Lake Constance); they settled between the Danube river in the North, the Iller river in the East and Lake Constance in the South. The tribe was mentioned under this name only by the roman writer Ammianus Marcellinus (330-395). Together with the warlord Malobaudes Nannienus lead the Franks into the battle of Argentovaria (Horbourg en Alsace) and drove the Lentienses and their king Priarius back into their area. If the victory of Nannienus lead to the foundation of Nendingen can not be answered. But it is not unlikely that Nannienus put up an army camp at the banks of the Danube (the Western boundary of the Lentienser area), which later became Nendingen. Nendingen was donated in the year 780 a.d. by Count Gerold, a brother-in-law of Charlemagne, to the Reichenau monastry, which was governed by the counts of Nellenburg.
Nederling in the municipality of Moosach was also first assumed to be founded by a chieftain called Nendilo.5 But Nederling was first mentioned in 1362/63 in a list of properties of the Diessen monastry, while the neighbouring villages ending with „-ing(en)“ were already known in the 8th/9th century. For this reason some scientists believe that the name has developed from „in Ederling“ („in the wasteland“).6
Also the village Nendeln in the Eschen municipality of the principality of Liechtenstein (first mentioned in 1395) is assumed to be named after a man called Nendilo.7 The special location of the village at the entrance of the Ill valley also allows another possible explanation of the name origin. The Celtic word for valley entrance „Nantiolon“ could also have developed to Nendeln.8,9 Also the name of Nennig on Moselle is assumed to be of Celtic origin.
In Rhenish Franconia also village names with the syllable Nend- can be found. The village Nenderoth in the Dill district on the upper Kallenbach, earlier named Nantherisrode, was first mentioned in the year 993 a.d. This Nanthari (hari = armed), on whom`s order the place was cleared, presumably was the one that was mentioned as the steward of the property of the holy Remigius in the Worms district. It is highly probable that he is also the founder of the Münsterdreisen monastry in the Worms district in the year 873 a.d.10 Already in the year 863 a.d. a Nanthari was mentioned being a follower of the Widonen emperor Lothar I. Also other village names in this area can be put back to this Nanthari (short: Nanno). The village Landstuhl in the Palatinate was called Nannenstuhl in the 8th century, Entersweilerhof near Kaiserslautern was known as as Nentriswilre before, Nünschweiler near Pirmasens was called Ninnesweiler back at 1396 and as well Nanzweiler on Glan contains a link to Nanthari.11
Village names containing „Nen-“, which are located in Northern Germany (Nendorp, Nendorf, Nenndorf, Nennhausen), are derived from the term „new village“ or „new house“.
References:
5 KÜBERT, H (1921): Aus Moosachs Vergangenheit. Münchner Neueste Nachrichten vom 06.04.1921.
6 LATURELL, D. UND MOOSEDER, G. (1980): Moosach - Die Entstehungs- und Entwicklungsgeschichte eines Münchner Stadtteils. Verlag Dr. Benno Tins Söhne, München.
7 NIPP (1911)
8 HOPFNER (1910)
9 ZEHRER (1971)
10 METZ, W. (1965): Miszellen zur Geschichte der Walahonen und Salier. Herbipolis jubilans 85, 1-27.
11 SCHREIBMÜLLER, H. (1952): Ahnen Kaiser Konrads II. und Bischof Bruno von Würzburg. Herbipolis jubilans, 173-233.