The term von ([fɔn] ⓘ) is used in German surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means 'of' or 'from'.
This meaning is preserved in Swiss toponymic surnames and in the Dutch van, which is a cognate of von but also does not necessarily indicate nobility.
The abolition of the monarchies in Germany and Austria in 1919 meant that neither state has a privileged nobility, and both have exclusively republican governments.
Nevertheless, it was mostly aristocrats and other land owners who acquired a surname consisting of von, zu or zur and a toponym.
When families were raised to nobility later on, the prefix was added in front of their existing name whatever its source, e.g. von Goethe.
Especially in the Northwest (Bremen, Hamburg, Holstein, Lower Saxony, Schleswig, Westphalia) and in German-speaking Switzerland, von is a frequent element in non-noble surnames.
As a rule, the members of the local nobility who found themselves in Russia as a result of geopolitical shifts preserved their privileges in the Empire.
However, unlike immigrants to English-speaking countries during the 18th to 20th centuries, who usually lost their nobility particles and often simplified and anglicised the remaining parts of their surnames, immigrants to the Tsarist and Imperial Russia did not lose their noble particles, although some of their core surnames may have experienced some minor changes.
Finally, in the 18th century Ivan Fonvizin decided to merge the particle von with the core, thus giving a start to a new Russian family of German origin.
However the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung style guide recommends omitting the von completely at the beginning of the sentence.