Berger

For other uses, see Berger (disambiguation).

Berger is a surname in both German, and French, although there is no etymological connection between the names in the two languages. The French surname is an occupational name for a shepherd, from Old French bergier (Late Latin berbicarius, from berbex ‘ram’).. The German surname derives from the word "Berg", the word for "mountain" or "hill", and means a resident on a mountain or hill, or someone from a toponym Berg, derived from the same. The pronunciation of the English name may sometimes be /ˈbɜːrdʒər/ BUR-jər. Notable people with this surname include:

Politics

Charles W. Berger, American politician
James S. Berger (born 1902), U.S. senator for Pennsylvania
Józef Berger, Polish theologian and politician
Luciana Berger, British Labour Party politician
Maria Berger (born 1956), Austrian politician and Member of the European Parliament
Óscar Berger (born 1946), former President of Guatemala
Philip E. Berger (born 1952), 2011: President "Pro-Tem" of the North Carolina Senate
Sandy Berger (born 1945), US National Security Advisor to President Bill Clinton
Thomas Berger (born 1933), Canadian politician
Victor L. Berger (1860–1929), US politician

Sports

Andreas Berger (born 1961), Austrian track and field sprinter
Barbara Berger (born 1930), All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
David Mark Berger (1944–1972), American-born Israeli weightlifter; Maccabiah champion (middleweight); one of the 11 hostages murdered in the Munich massacre
Frederick Berger (1849-?), American professional baseball umpire
Gerhard Berger (born 1959), Austrian Grand Prix racing driver
Ilana Berger (born 1965), Israeli tennis player
Ike Berger (born 1936), US Olympic champion weightlifter (featherweight), 2-time silver; 2-time Pan American champion; 23 world records
Jay Berger (born 1966), American tennis player; highest world ranking # 7
Johann Berger (1845–1933), Austrian chess master, theorist, endgame study composer, author and editor
Lars Berger (born 1979), Norwegian biathlete
Mark Berger (born 1954), Canadian Olympic silver & bronze (judo heavyweight)
Maxie Berger (1917–2000), Canadian world champion junior welterweight boxer
Norma Berger (born 1932), All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player and sister of Barbara Berger
Ola Berger (born 1979), Norwegian ski mountaineer and cross-country skier
Olia Berger (born 1983), Canadian judoka
Patrik Berger (born 1973), Czech football (soccer) player
Sam Berger (1900–1992), Canadian football team owner
Samuel Berger (1884–1925), US Olympic champion heavyweight boxer
Tora Berger (born 1981), Norwegian biathlete and sister of Lars Berger
Wally Berger (1905-1988), mostly Boston Braves slugger of the 1930s

Music

Arthur Berger, composer
Christian Wilhelm Berger (b. 1964), Romanian composer and musician
Erna Berger (1900–1990), German soprano singer
Henri Berger (1844–1929), Hawaii musician
Jim Berger (singer), Swedish musician
Karl Berger (born 1935), German jazz musician
Ludwig Berger (composer) (1777–1839), German composer and piano teacher
Michel Berger (1947–1992), French singer and songwriter
Wilhelm Berger (1861–1911), composer
Wilhelm Georg Berger (1929–1993), composer
Wilhelm Peterson Berger (1867–1942), Swedish musician
Margaret Berger, Norwegian singer

Culture

Charlotta Berger, Swedish poet and novelist
Pablo Berger, Spanish film director
Howard Berger, American make-up artist
Helmut Berger (born 1944), Austrian actor
John Berger (born 1926), British art critic, novelist, painter, and author
Karen Berger, British comic book editor
Maurice Berger (born 1956) American cultural historian, curator, and critic
Oscar Berger (cartoonist) (1901–1997), cartoonist
Robert Berger (producer), a film producer
Senta Berger (1941–1997), Austrian actress
Thomas Berger (born 1924), US novelist
Wiesław Adam Berger, Polish writer

Science

Alwin Berger (1871–1931), German botanist
Hans Berger (1873–1941), German neuroscientist
James Berger (statistician), American statistician
Jeffrey W. Berger (1963–2001), American physician and engineer
Josef Berger (scientist) (1949), Czech biomedical engineer and haematologist
Lee R. Berger (born 1965), explorer and paleoanthropologist
Marcel Berger, (born 1927), French mathematician
Peter B. Berger (born 1956), American cardiologist
Peter L. Berger (born 1929), American sociologist and theologian
Richard Berger (1894–1984), Swiss professor of design, decoration, and art history
Robert Berger (mathematician), American mathematician
Wolfgang H. Berger (born 1936), German-American oceanographer

Other people

Gottlob Berger (1896–1975), German SS general
Roza Berger (1889–1945), 1945 Kraków pogrom victim
Josef Berger (speechwriter) (1903–1981), American journalist, accused of being a Soviet spy
Roland Berger (born 1937), entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants
Theo Berger (1941–2003), German criminal
David Berger (theologian) (born 1968), German theologian

Fictional

Erika Berger (1957?) Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Editor and co-owner of Millennium, Mikael Blomqvist's lover