The Dutch family name Springsteen is
classified as being of habitation origin.
The phrase "habitation names" is used to
describe those family names which find
their origins in the location of the
residence of the initial bearer. In some
instances such names are derived from
the name of the town or region where the
original bearer was born or resided.
Others refer to the geographic location
of the original bearer's home while still
others may refer to a sign displayed over
the door of his residence. With regard to
the family name Springsteen, the appel-
lation originated from a combination of the
Dutch terms "spring", denoting a natural
water source, and "steen", meaning "stone".
Hence, the "springsteen" would have been a
large rock or stone from which a spring
flowed, and the initial bearer of the sur-
name would have been one who dwelled near
such a stone. One of the earliest references
to this name is a record of one Joost
Casperszen Springsteen, son of Caspar
Springsteen and Geesje Jans, who was born in
1637 in the city of Groningen in northern
Holland. However, research is of course on-
going and this name may have been documented
even earlier than the date indicated above
It is believed that the first use of
hereditary surnames in the Netherlands and
Belgium dates from the thirteenth century
and began in the regions of Flanders and
Brabant. Among additional references to this
surname is an entry from 1665, regarding the
wedding of Melchior Springsteen and Gertrude
Bartelsen in Groningen. The first to introduce
this family name to North America may well
have been the aforementioned Joost Springsteen,
who settled in the colony of New Netherland
(New York and New Jersey)prior to 1664.
-Source Ref: Siebmacher's, Bg5-65. 

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