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 /ˈbɜːrdʒər/ BUR-jər, following the French phonetics [bɛʁʒe] ⓘ; the German one is [ˈbɛʁɡɐ] ⓘ, anglicized as /ˈbɜːrɡər/ BUR-gər. Notable people with this surname include:
Politics
- Charles W. Berger (1936–2016), American politician
 - Gianna Berger (born 1999), Swiss politician
 - James S. Berger (1903–1984), American politician
 - Jan Johannis Adriaan Berger, Dutch politician
 - Józef Berger (1901–1962), Polish theologian and politician
 - Karine Berger (born 1973), French politician
 - Laurent Berger (born 1968), French trade unionist
 - Lieselotte Berger (1920–1989), German politician
 - Luciana Berger (born 1981), British Liberal Democrat politician
 - Maria Berger (born 1956), Austrian politician
 - Markus Berger (1913–1988), German politician
 - Mateusz Berger (born 1986), Polish politician
 - Matthias Berger (born 1968), German politician
 - Óscar Berger (born 1946), President of Guatemala
 - Ossian Berger (1849–1914), Swedish politician and lawyer
 - Phil Berger (born 1952), American politician
 - Samuel D. Berger (1911–1980), American diplomat
 - Sandy Berger (1945–2015), American attorney and politician
 - Thomas R. Berger (1933–2021), Canadian politician
 - Tina Berger (born 1981), Austrian politician
 - Ulrich Berger (1921–2003), German 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 sprinter
 - Ann-Katrin Berger (born 1990), German football goalkeeper
 - Barbara Berger (1930–2016), American baseball player
 - Chris Berger (1911–1965), Dutch sprinter
 - Daniel Berger (born 1993), American golfer
 - David Mark Berger (1944–1972), Israeli weightlifter; one of 11 hostages murdered in the Munich massacre
 - Frederick Berger (1849–?), American baseball umpire
 - Gerhard Berger (born 1959), Austrian 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), American weightlifter
 - Ilana Berger (born 1965), Israeli tennis player
 - Jan Berger (born 1976), Czech-Swiss football player
 - 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 judoka
 - Maxie Berger (1917–2000), Canadian boxer
 - Norma Berger (1932–2023), American baseball player, sister of Barbara
 - Ola Berger (born 1979), Norwegian ski mountaineer and cross-country skier
 - Olia Berger (born 1983), Canadian judoka
 - Patrik Berger (born 1973), Czech football player
 - Ruud Berger (born 1980), Dutch football player
 - Sam Berger (1900–1992), Canadian football team owner
 - Samuel Berger (1884–1925), American boxer
 - Ségolène Berger (born 1978), French tennis player
 - Steve Berger (born 1973), American mixed martial artist
 - Tora Berger (born 1981), Norwegian biathlete, sister of Lars
 - Wally Berger (1905–1988), American baseball player
 
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
 - Charlotta Berger (1784–1852), Swedish poet and novelist
 - Edward Berger (born 1970), Austrian-Swiss director
 - 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 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 singer, composer, photographer, and 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)(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 judge
 - 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 racing driver
 - Gottlob Berger (1896–1975), German Schutzstaffel (SS) general
 - Irene Berger (born 1954), American 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 and philanthropist
 - Roza Berger (1889–1945), 1945 Kraków pogrom victim
 - Theo Berger (1941–2003), German criminal
 
Fictional
- Erika Berger from the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson
 
