Family name origins & meanings
- German : habitational name for someone from a place called Mergenthal, probably named with a pet form of the personal name Maria (see Marie 1) + Middle High German tal ‘valley’.
- Ottmar Mergenthaler, the inventor of the Linotype print-composing machine, was born into a poor family in Hachtel, Germany. He emigrated to America in 1872, his fare paid for by a family friend. At the time of his death in 1899, Mergenthaler held over 50 patents.