Straub

Straub is a Germanic surname that literally means "one with bushy or bristly hair" and "destroy or rob". Its original meaning in Middle High German is "rough" or "unkempt". It may also refer to people who come from Straubing in Germany. Spelling variations of Straub include Staub, Straube, Strauber, Straubinger, Strauble, Strob, Strobel, Strube, Strub, Strufe, Struwe, and Struwing. A few Straubs in North America may have originally been named Strauss in Europe. In the German alphabet, there is a special letter "ß" which stands for a double "s". Therefore Strauss would most often be written "Strauß". This may have been mistaken for a "b" by immigration officials.

The first known Straub in the United States was Johannes Straub, one of the Palatine Germans brought to New York in 1710. There were later arrivals, especially in the Pennsylvania Deutsch region and Ohio, most with an origin in Baden-Württemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Rhineland-Palatinate, Bavaria, Austria, the German cantons of Switzerland, and Alsace-Lorraine. Some Straubs who had earlier migrated east out of Germany, settling in German enclaves in Russia and Austria-Hungary (now Romania), have subsequently immigrated to the U.S. as well.

There were two notable breweries founded in Pennsylvania by Straub immigrants. The earliest was the J. N. Straub & Company brewery founded in the 1840s in Alleghany (now Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, by John N. Straub, immigrant from Hesse-Darmstadt. The other was the Straub Brewery founded in 1872 in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, by Peter P. Straub, immigrant from Felldorf, Württemberg.

Other notable landmarks and companies named after a Straub include Bob Straub State Park in Oregon; Straub's Markets, a St. Louis, Missouri-based specialty food retailer; Straub Clinic & Hospital in Hawaii.

During the Second World War there was a Sclass Cannon destroyer escort named USS Straub that was built for the U.S. Navy. The ship was named after its sponsor, Mrs. Margaret H. Straub.

There is also an asteroid named 6147 Straub.