Berger

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  following the French phonetics (the German is ). Notable people with this surname include:

Politics

 * Charles W. Berger (born 1936), American politician
 * James S. Berger (1903–1984), American politician
 * Jan Johannis Adriaan Berger, Dutch Labour Party politician.
 * Józef Berger (1901–1962), Polish theologian and politician.
 * Karine Berger (born 1973), French politician
 * Laurent Berger (born 1968), French trade unionist
 * Luciana Berger (born 1981), British Liberal Democrat politician
 * Maria Berger (born 1956), Austrian politician
 * Mateusz Berger (born 1986), Polish politician
 * Óscar Berger (born 1946), former President of Guatemala
 * Ossian Berger (1849–1914), Swedish politician and lawyer
 * Phil Berger (born 1952), American politician
 * Samuel D. Berger (1911–1980), US Ambassador
 * Sandy Berger (1945–2015), American attorney and politician
 * Thomas R. Berger (1933–2021), Canadian politician
 * Victor L. Berger (1860–1929), American politician

Sports

 * Alfred Berger (1894–1966), Austrian pair skater
 * Andrea Berger (born 1970), American tennis player
 * Andreas Berger (athlete) (born 1961), Austrian track and field sprinter
 * Ann-Katrin Berger (born 1990), German football goalkeeper
 * Barbara Berger (1930–2016), All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
 * Chris Berger (1911–1965), Dutch sprinter
 * Daniel Berger (born 1993), American professional PGA Tour golfer
 * 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
 * Grace Berger (born 1999), American basketball player
 * Guylaine Berger (born 1956), French swimmer
 * Han Berger (born 1950), Dutch football coach
 * Ike Berger (1936–2022), US Olympic weightlifter (featherweight)
 * Ilana Berger (born 1965), Israeli tennis player
 * Jan Berger (born 1976), Czech-Swiss football midfielder
 * Jay Berger (born 1966), American tennis player
 * 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 (1932–2023), 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 midfielder
 * Ruud Berger (born 1980), Dutch football midfielder
 * Sam Berger (1900–1992), Canadian football team owner
 * Samuel Berger (1884–1925), US Olympic champion heavyweight boxer
 * Ségolène Berger (born 1978), professional tennis player from France.
 * Steve Berger (born 1973), American mixed martial artist
 * Tora Berger (born 1981), Norwegian biathlete and sister of Lars Berger
 * Wally Berger (1905–1988), Boston Braves slugger of the 1930s

Music

 * Arthur Berger (1912–2003), American composer
 * Christian Wilhelm Berger (born 1964), Romanian composer and musician
 * Dominique II Berger (1780–1845), Flemish organist and carillonneur
 * Erna Berger (1900–1990), German soprano singer
 * Henri Berger (1844–1929), Hawaiian musician
 * Karl Berger (1935–2023), German jazz musician and educator
 * Ludwig Berger (composer) (1777–1839), German composer and piano teacher
 * Margaret Berger (born 1985), Norwegian singer, songwriter, and disc jockey
 * Michel Berger (1947–1992), French singer and songwriter
 * Wilhelm Berger (1861–1911), German composer
 * Wilhelm Georg Berger (1929–1993), Romanian composer
 * Wilhelm Peterson Berger (1867–1942), Swedish musician

Culture

 * Alex Berger, (born 1962), American producer, creator, consultant and entrepreneur in the media field
 * Charlotta Berger (1784–1852), Swedish poet and novelist
 * Élie Berger (1850–1925), French archivist and palaeographer
 * Erika Berger (1939–2016), German television presenter and writer
 * Georgette Berger (1901–1986), Belgian wife of the painter René Magritte
 * Helmut Berger (1944–2023), Austrian actor
 * Howard Berger, American make-up artist
 * John Berger (1926–2017), British art critic, novelist, painter, and author
 * Jonah Berger, American writer and professor
 * Karen Berger (born 1958), American comic book editor
 * Katya Berger (born 1966) (sometimes credited as Katia Berger or Katja Berger), British film actress.
 * Marco Berger (born 1977), Argentine film director and screenwriter
 * Maurice Berger (1956–2020) American cultural historian, curator, and critic
 * Nicole Berger (born Nicole Gouspeyre, 1934–1967), French actress
 * Nicole Berger (American actress) (born 2003), American actress, model, and pianist
 * Oscar Berger (cartoonist) (1901–1997), Slovak cartoonist
 * Pablo Berger (born 1963), Spanish film director
 * Petra Berger, born Petra Pierrette Burger, 1965), Dutch classical crossover singer, composer, photographer, and musical actress
 * Robert Berger (producer) (born 1934), American film producer
 * Senta Berger (born 1941), Austrian actress
 * Thomas Berger (novelist) (1924–2014), American novelist
 * Wiesław Adam Berger (1926–1998), Polish writer
 * William Berger (actor), also known as Bill Berger and Wilhelm Berger, born Wilhelm Thomas Berger (1928–1993), Austrian-American actor
 * Yves Berger (1931–2004), French writer and editor

Academics

 * Alwin Berger (1871–1931), German botanist
 * André Berger (born 1942), Belgian climatologist
 * Beverly Berger, American physicist
 * Hans Berger (1873–1941), German neuroscientist
 * Harriet Berger (died 2012), American political scientist
 * James Berger (statistician) (born 1950), American statistician
 * Jeffrey W. Berger (1963–2001), American physician and engineer
 * Jerry Berger (1933–2021), American journalist
 * Johann Gottfried von Berger (1659–1736), German physician
 * Josef Berger (scientist) (born 1949), Czech biomedical engineer and haematologist
 * Lee R. Berger (born 1965), American-born South African explorer and paleoanthropologist
 * Leszek Berger (1925–2012), Polish herpetologist and malacologist
 * Marcel Berger (1927–2016), French mathematician
 * Peter B. Berger (born 1956), American cardiologist
 * Peter L. Berger (1929–2017), Austrian-born American sociologist and theologian
 * Richard Berger (1894–1984), Swiss professor of design, decoration, and art history
 * Robert Berger (mathematician) (born 1938), American mathematician
 * Wolfgang H. Berger (1937–2017), German-American oceanographer

Other professions

 * Carolyn Berger, American State (Delaware) Supreme Court justice
 * Daniel Berger (engraver) (1744–1825), German engraver
 * David Berger (theologian) (born 1968), German theologian
 * Gaston Berger (1896–1960), French futurist, industrialist, philosopher and state manager
 * Georges Berger (1918–1967), Belgian Grand Prix racing driver
 * Gottlob Berger (1896–1975), German Schutzstaffel (SS) general
 * Irene Berger (born 1954), United States District Judge
 * Josef Berger (speechwriter) (1903–1981), American journalist, accused of being a Soviet spy
 * Patricia Wilson Berger (1926–2011), American librarian
 * Roland Berger (born 1937), German entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants
 * Roza Berger (1889–1945), 1945 Kraków pogrom victim
 * Theo Berger (1941–2003), German criminal

Fictional

 * Erika Berger from the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson