Why are they called “Amish” and “Mennonite”?

In this video (video & full transcript below) I give the origins of the Anabaptist movement in brief, and describe how the Amish emerged from that movement at the end of the 17th century. I also explain who Jakob Ammann and Menno Simons were.

Contrary to what some might suppose, the two never crossed paths, with Ammann arriving on the scene around 150 years after Simons.

Menno Simons was a Dutch former Catholic priest who converted to Anabaptism. He was so influential in the early movement that its followers became known as “Mennonists” or “Mennonites”.

Jakob Amman was a tailor by trade, and lived in the Alsace region of France. He was also a convert to Anabaptism and a church leader. Following a schism in 1693, the more conservative Ammann’s followers became known as “Amish”.

Not too much is known about his life (it’s not even known with certainty which decade he died in). Likewise, as Steven Nolt explains in A History of the Amish, even the Amish don’t typically know much about him.

I go into more detail in the video, which you can view here or read the full transcript below. Runtime: 4:46.

Video Transcript

Erik: Hi, everybody. So I’m filming today from a mountain valley somewhere in Europe. Now, this is not where the forefathers of the Amish once lived.

However, maybe not too unlike those places. So I thought it’d be a good way to intro today’s topic which is: “where does the name ‘Amish’ come from?”

The Anabaptist Movement

So Amish origins go way back to the Anabaptist movement, which began in the early 1500s. This was a reform movement which originated in the city of Zurich.

These reformists believed in several things contrary to the state church of the time. That included adult baptism as well as nonresistance.

They believed baptism should be something that’s decided as an adult, not something that should be decided for a person when they’re an infant. So these reformers took to meeting and baptizing themselves again as adults.

Because of this, they got the name Anabaptists, which means “rebaptizers”. It was originally intended as a derogatory term. This act of re-baptizing was seen as a threat to the authority of the church, and also the state.

Anabaptists persecuted & marginalized

The idea of nonresistance – in this case meaning not fighting in wars (though the concept covers more than that). This was something potentially very destabilizing to governments at the time. So this group was persecuted, and in some cases, tortured and killed by state authorities.

There were even Anabaptist hunters, who hunted the Anabaptists, captured them, and even executed them. Such was the threat there.

And so they were really a marginalized people. My reference at the beginning to the mountain valley has to do with the idea that they weren’t allowed to own land. The best land was often not available to them.

So they had to live and farm in more remote mountainous areas. But at the same time, they developed a reputation for being very good at agriculture.

Where the name “Amish” comes from

So the Amish take their name from a man named Jakob Ammann. He doesn’t come onto the scene until much later, in the late 1600s. He was, in fact, a convert and reformist himself.

He felt that the ways of the brethren at that time were, in some ways, too lax, specifically on communion service. And also the practice of social shunning, or social avoidance, which is a form of discipline which comes into play when members break the church’s agreed upon rules – and is a practice that the Amish continue today.

Ammann advocated a stricter approach to shunning. This eventually led to a conflict with another, more lenient leader named Hans Reist. Long story short, they were not able to resolve this between themselves, leading to a division or split in 1693. The followers of Jacob Ammann in this division became known as the Amish.

They were the more conservative group. And over time, they became known for their more conservative ways, styles of dress, and so on.

Little is known about Ammann

As for Ammann himself: there’s not a lot known about him. He was a convert, and he was also an elder in the church, a minister. He lived in Alsace in France, an area where where you found Anabaptists and the Amish. Ammann worked as a tailor.

Stephen Nolt, in his book A History of the Amish, writes that today, few Amish know much about Ammann. When asked about their church’s origins, most typically stressed the Biblical or reformation roots of their faith.

So, he’s not particularly well-known among Amish today, in part simply maybe reflecting the fact that not a lot is known about him. However, there is a more recent book about Jakob Ammann called Grounded Upon God’s Word: The Life and Labors of Jacob Amman which goes into more detail on his life.

Ancestors of today’s Amish eventually ended up moving to what is today America. And there are no more Old Order Amish living in Europe today. The last congregation essentially disappeared from a town in Germany (Ixheim) in 1937, when they united with a Mennonite church.

Where the name “Mennonite” comes from

On that note, Mennonites take their name from an even earlier leader named Menno Simons, who came well before Jacob Ammann. He was an early leader of the Anabaptist movements in the 1530s and 1540s.

Simons was a Dutch priest, and like Ammann, had also been a convert to Anabaptism. He was so influential that his name became connected with the Anabaptists, so much that they were even called Mennonites. That’s why we have the name Mennonites today. But again, Ammann and Simons lived in different times, and would have never crossed paths.

So today, there are many different Mennonite groups, some very progressive and modern – living basically identically to other Americans. And there are those Mennonites who are as conservative, or even more conservative in some ways, than some Amish.

For more, see:

• Where do the Amish come from?
• Who were the Anabaptists?
• Mennonites vs. Amish
• Are the Amish German?
• The 10 Oldest Amish Communities

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