Family name Drumpf: The origin story of Donald Trump and his ancestry
Photo: Donald Trump (Getty Images)
Donald Trump is one of the most famous businessmen and politicians in the world. Yet, few people know that his family name was Drumpf. How did it change, who were the former US president's ancestors, and what secrets does their history hide?
Family roots and German ancestry
Donald Trump's family has German roots. His grandfather, Friedrich Drumpf, was born in 1869 in the village of Kallstadt, Germany. The surname Drumpf was common in the region but was later changed to Trump to better integrate into the United States.
Migration to America
In 1885, Friedrich emigrated to the United States to avoid military service in Germany. He began life in his new country, first working as a barber and then opening a number of hotels and restaurants in the western United States during the Canadian gold rush.
In 1901, Friedrich received a US passport and decided to return to Europe, to his hometown of Kallstadt, Austria. He married the daughter of his neighbors, Elisabeth Christ, and set out for New York again.
His young wife was homesick, and they returned to Austria. However, the authorities interpreted Friedrich's departure as an attempt to evade military service and deprived him of his citizenship. And he returned to the United States for good.
Friedrich (Frederick) Trump (photo: Wikipedia)
History of the name change
The name Drumpf was changed to Trump in the early 20th century. The reason was not only the desire to adapt to the English-speaking environment but also the desire to distance himself from his German ancestry.
In the mid-20th century, after World War II, German roots could be socially undesirable in the United States.
First, Drumpf was changed to Trumpf and then shortened to Trump.
Lies about Scandinavian ancestry
In the 1970s, when Fred Trump was actively doing business, the family claimed to be of Scandinavian descent to improve relations with Jewish tenants and business partners who might have had negative associations with German roots after World War II.
Fred Trump explained his unusual accent by the fact that he also has Jewish roots.
Donald Trump has also repeated this version of his Scandinavian ancestry in his public speeches, although historians later confirmed his German roots.
In his book “The Art of the Deal,” Trump said that his father was born in Germany, although this is not true - he was born on October 11, 1905, in the Bronx. His grandfather, Friedrich Trump, arrived in the United States from Bavaria at the age of 16.
The family of Friedrich Trump in 1915 (photo: Wikipedia)
A business dynasty
Fred Trump, Friedrich's son and Donald's father, continued the family's business, focusing on real estate in New York. He successfully developed the construction of residential complexes for the middle class. It was his example and experience that became the basis for Donald's future business empire.
Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, is from the Scottish island of Lewis. By the way, there is a theory that her family, the MacLeods, has a distant connection with the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, Queen Anne of France. However, there is no evidence to support this theory, and historians call it a “historical anecdote.”
Trump family
Friedrich and his wife first lived in the Bronx and later moved to Queens. And Friedrich Trump started again with a hairdresser - he opened his own salon on Wall Street. It was very popular and profitable, and Friedrich had the opportunity to meet influential people. Later, he began to buy land in the city.
On May 30, 1918, Friedrich Trump died suddenly during an influenza pandemic. His son, 13-year-old Fred Trump, inherited a house in Queens, 5 plots of land, and several thousand dollars in cash and securities.
But it was his mother who started the business - she founded a real estate firm. The firm built social housing in New York City and had government contracts. Fred Trump was able to join the family business only in 1920, and in 1930 he became the head of the company.
During the Great Depression, Fred began buying up land and real estate from those who had large debts. And in 1940, he became the king of social housing. He was also a philanthropist, and his main support went to the Jewish community in New York. And also to Israel.
Since the 1950s, Fred Trump has had a lot of money, and with it, numerous investigations and scandals, media attention, and lawsuits.
The young Donald, who would later become President of the United States, grew up in this atmosphere.
Donald Trump as a child (far left) with Fred, Elizabeth, Maryanne, and Robert (Photo from Trump's Instagram)
Childhood and youth of Donald Trump
Donald Trump was born in 1946 and was the fourth of five children in the family: Donald, Fred Jr., Robert, Maryanne, and Elizabeth.
Fred Trump was strict with his children, did not spoil them, and taught them to earn money from an early age. As a result, Donald and his siblings collected empty bottles, delivered newspapers, and later started working in the family business.
At the age of 13, Donald was sent to a prestigious military academy, following his father’s belief that "Donnie" (as he was nicknamed as a child) needed strict discipline. At school, Trump did not excel academically but became successful in sports, particularly American football and baseball. He even became the captain of sports teams.
During his teenage years, Donald developed a fanatical obsession with cleanliness. While living at the academy, his room was described as a "museum of cleanliness and order." This period also marked the beginning of his "clean hands" obsession. In his book, he admitted that he finds the practice of shaking hands unsettling.
After graduating from the academy, Donald enrolled at Fordham University in New York, explaining his choice by a desire to stay closer to home. Two years later, he transferred to the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania (part of the Ivy League), where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1968.
In 1971, Donald Trump took over the family business founded by his father and became president of the company.
Interesting facts about the Trump family
- In addition to German roots, Trump also has Scottish heritage. Donald's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was Scottish and emigrated to the US in the 1930s.
- Donald’s grandfather, Friedrich, built his initial fortune by running hotels for gold diggers in the Yukon, Canada.
- Trump owns a large ancestral home in Kallstadt, Germany, which is a popular tourist attraction.
- Both of Donald’s brothers, Fred Jr. and Robert, have passed away. Fred, a pilot, died in 1981 from alcoholism. Robert, a businessman, passed away in 2020.
- Donald’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, died of cancer at the end of 2023. She was a federal appellate court judge, and her son, David Desmond, is a well-known neuropsychologist and writer. Maryanne had a complicated relationship with Donald.
- His other sister, Elizabeth Trump Grau, is a banking executive.
Check out also How Trump's style has changed.
Sources: Biography.com, BBC News, The Guardian, History.com, Wikipedia.
