The surname of ACHENBACH was a Swedish locational name 'the dweller at the oak' from residence nearby. Local names usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where he actually lived. Local surnames, by far the largest group, derived from a place name where the man held land or from the place from which he had come, or where he actually lived. These local surnames were originally preceded by a preposition such as "de", "atte", "by" or "in". The names may derive from a manor held, from working in a religious dwelling or from literally living by a wood or marsh or by a stream. The name is also spelt AICHENBAUM, AJCHENBAUM, EICH, AICHLER, EKEBERG, EKLBLADE, EKBLOM and EKHOLM. In the 17th century, so-called 'soldiers' names are found as the earliest kind of hereditary surnames in Sweden. These names were derived from vocabulary words, usually martial-sounding monosyllables such as Rapp (prompt) Rask (bold), or occasionally names of animals and birds. The names were bestowed on soldiers for administrative purposes, and no doubt in some cases derived from pre-existing nicknames. Most Swedes did not adopt hereditary surnames until a century or more later, and the patronymic system was still in use in rural areas until late in the 19th century. In the absence of evidence to the contrary it is thought that people may have adopted their surname from the area in which they lived. A notable member of the name was Andreas ACHENBACH (1815-1910) the German landscape and marine painter, born in Cassel. He studied at St. Petersburg and travelled extensively in Holland, Scandinavia and Italy, where he produced many watercolours. His paintings of the North Sea coasts of Europe had considerable influence in Germany, and he was regarded as the father of 19th century German landscape painting. His brother and pupil Oswald (1827-1905) was also a landscape painter. The Rose depicted in the arms is used as a distinction for the seventh son. The Distinction of Houses are used to distinguish the younger from the elder branches of a family, and to show from which line each is descended.