Gutenbergin

Gutenbergin is a term that would denote a female bearer of the German surname Gutenberg. It is formed by adding the feminine suffix -in to the masculine surname, a pattern seen in German for certain nouns, though its use with surnames is not standard in contemporary German. In practice, native speakers refer to a woman with that surname simply as Frau Gutenberg, followed by her given name, or as Frau Gutenberg if the given name is omitted. The form Gutenbergin may appear in linguistic discussions, historical fiction, or editorial stylization to illustrate how gendered forms of surnames could function, but it is rare in modern texts and generally not part of official naming conventions.

Historical context: The most famous bearer of the surname is Johannes Gutenberg, the 15th-century inventor of movable-type printing. There is no widely recognized historical figure officially named Gutenbergin. If used, Gutenbergin would refer to a fictional character or to a hypothetical female member of the Gutenberg family. The term serves more as a linguistic or stylistic example than as a standalone historical or biographical entry.

In encyclopedic or scholarly writing about German onomastics, the standard approach is to use gender-neutral or gendered variants only when relevant to the actual person being discussed, typically avoiding a constructed form like Gutenbergin in formal references.