Morgenthau is a German surname meaning "morning dew". Notable people with the surname include:
Moses Morgenthau (1773-1834) - The first Morgenthau of record, impoverished teacher of Hebrew from Gleusdorf in Bavaria, who later became a ritual slaughterer married to a rabbi’s daughter, was required to take a family name when the Jews of Bavaria were granted citizenship in 1813. Waiting in line at city hall in the predawn, he looked at the damp ground and decided to call himself Morgen Tau.
Lazarus Morgenthau (1815-1897) - Son of Moses and Brunhilda Morgenthau's, father of Henry Morgenthau, Sr. Producer of nicotine-free cigars, candy from pine needles, tongue scrapers, and gum-label machines. Married in 1843 to Seline Babette Guggenheim, he moved to the liberal city of Mannheim and opened a cigar manufactory, a business that grew rapidly when his brother Max (also called Mengo) wrote from California in 1849 suggesting he ship his cigars to the American market. Lazarus’ rise to success had been extraordinary, but the luck that had followed him could not prevent the business failure that followed the rise of protective tariffs in the United Stateswhen war broke out there in 1861. Financially overextended, Lazarus moved to New York in 1866, where his fortunes plummeted further.
Elinor Morgenthau (1891-1949), American Democratic party activist
Hans Morgenthau (1904–1980), German-born international relations theorist
Henry Morgenthau, Sr. (1856–1946), diplomat and businessman
Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (1891–1967), United States Secretary of the Treasury and proponent of the Morgenthau Plan
Robert M. Morgenthau (born 1919), Former District Attorney for New York County
Henry Morgenthau III (1917–) author and television producer
Joan Elizabeth Morgenthau Hirschhorn (1922–2012) professor of clinical pediatrics and preventive medicine and associate dean for student affairs at Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Kramer Morgenthau (1966–) American cinematographer
