Etymology

Wagner

Wag·ner
W4A1G2N1E1R1

Today it means: A surname from German. Full definition →

German Wagner ← Russian Ва́гнер
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The story

  1. Russian · borrowed fromВа́гнер
  2. German · borrowed fromWagner
  3. English todayWagner

Borrowed from German Wagner (literally “wainwright”), later conflated with wheelwright. See also the English surnames Wainwright and Wheelwright. Doublet of Wagoner. As the name of a private military company, borrowed from Russian Ва́гнер (Vágner). Reportedly the call sign of Russian GRU officer and company founder Dmitry Utkin, which was ultimately named after German composer Richard Wagner.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.