From the German word for "summer," used as a seasonal surname and given name.
Sommer sits at a fascinating linguistic crossroads. As a word, it is the German and Scandinavian equivalent of the English 'summer,' from the Old High German sumar and Old Norse sumar, all descending from a Proto-Germanic root that linguists trace back thousands of years to an ancient word for the warm half of the year. As a surname it has deep Ashkenazi Jewish roots as well, where Sommer (and its variants Somer, Somers) was adopted across Central and Eastern Europe — often by families who registered in summer months or lived in sun-warmed localities.
As a given name, Sommer carries the connotations of the season itself: warmth, abundance, light at its fullest. The variant spelling distinguishes it visually from the nature name Summer, which surged in popularity in the English-speaking world during the 1970s and 1980s following broader trends toward seasonal names. Sommer's Germanic orthography gives it a slightly more formal, Continental feel while retaining all the sensory richness of summer as an idea.
Notable bearers include Sommer Ray, the American social media personality, who has brought fresh contemporary visibility to the name. The name occupies an appealing space: recognizable enough to feel approachable, distinctive enough in spelling to feel individual, and semantically rich enough to carry genuine meaning through a lifetime.