The Meaning of Donald Trump's Name and Surname
Forebears.io
3 Mar 2016

Recently numerous news websites have published articles on the pre-immigration spelling of Donald Trump's surname, Drumpf. They correctly point out that the English translation of this German word is trump card; ironic given the man's heavy involvement with gambling enterprises. But the real origin of Trump's name is less bombastic.

Donald: Trump's forename is Scottish. His mother, born Mary Anne MacLeod, immigrated to the United States from Stornoway, a large, sparsely-populated island off the coast of Scotland. Mary had an older brother, Donald MacLeod, and grandfather, Donald Smith1. Donald is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic name, Domhanll, which means world-ruler2.

John: Trump's middle name is the English derivative of the Hebrew name, Yohanan, which means Graced by Yahweh3. Yahweh was a god in the pantheon of the ancient Canaanite religion and later the monotheistic god of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Trump: Donald Trump's father was a German immigrant. When he arrived in the United States, he spelled his surname, Drumpf, but Anglicized it to Trump. His earliest known ancestor was a lawyer, Hans Drumpf4. This shifting of d to t in German has been common, e.g. vader → vater (English: father)5. Drumpf is a corruption of Trumpf, which is derived from the German word, trumme, meaning drummer6. It is likely that one of Trump's paternal ancestors was a military drummer, used set marching pace and communicate other orders7.

Thus Donald Trump's full name literally means: the ruler of the world, graced by God and a descendant of a drummer.