Oettingen in Bayern Oettingen in Bayern Oettingen in Bayern is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated northwest of Donauwörth, and northeast of Nördlingen. The town is located on the river Wörnitz, a tributary of the Danube, and lies on the northern edge of the Nördlinger Ries, a meteorite crater in diameter. The town consists of the municipalities of Erlbach, Heuberg, Lehmingen, Niederhofen, Nittingen and Oettingen. The Oettinger Brewery, which make Germany's best-selling brand of beer, has its main brewery and headquarters in Oettingen. Neolithic remains indicate that the region was already settled by around 5000 BC.
German name village of Veltheim, his family name would be "von Veltheim". In modern times, people who were elevated to nobility often had a 'von' added to their name. For example, Johann Wolfgang Goethe had his name changed to "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe". This practice ended with the abolition of the monarchy in Germany and Austria in 1919. Sometimes "von" is also used in geographical names that are not noble, as in "von Däniken". With family names originating locally, many names display particular characteristics of the local dialects, such as the south German, Austrian and Swiss diminutive endings "-l" "-el", "-erl", "-le"