Tricia, My family line also follows the German tradition as our place of origin. There are still Brimers in Germany, my sister on a recent visit there spoke with a Brimer family there (although they pronouce the name differently than we in the US). But the Brimer name is viewed by some Scots as a variation of a very old name, Brabener, which goes back nearly 1000 years in Scotland. In fact, there is a Scottish Coat of Arms given someone named Brimer (bit of tradition here, a Scottish Coat of Arms belongs only to the person it was presented to unlike the British whose Coat of Arms come down through a family line). Most of us in the US more than likely have German roots, but where the name originated can only be speculated on.