Mercédès Adrienne Ramona Manuela Jellinek (16 September 1889 – 23 February 1929) was the daughter of Austrian automobile entrepreneur Emil Jellinek and his first wife Rachel Goggmann Cenrobert. She was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. She is best known for her father having

Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (abbreviated as DMG, also known as Daimler Motors Corporation) was a German engineering company and later automobile manufacturer, in operation from 1890 until 1926. Founded by Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900) and Wil ...

's line of Mercedes cars named after her, beginning with the

Mercedes 35 hp The Mercedes () was a radical early car model designed in 1901 by Wilhelm Maybach and Paul Daimler, for Emil Jellinek. Produced in Stuttgart, Germany, by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG), it began the Mercedes line of cars (since 1926 re-bra ...

model of 1901. In addition, her father hung a large picture of her at the 1902 Paris Automobile exhibition. He even legally changed his name to Jellinek-Mercedes in 1903 after

registered Mercedes as a trademark in 1902. Mercedes is a Spanish female name meaning mercies (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: merced ''f sg'', "mercy", mercedes ''f pl'', "mercies").

Biography

Jellinek lived in

, and married twice. She had an elaborate wedding in 1909 in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

, with Baron von Schlosser. The couple lived in Vienna until

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, which ruined them. They had two children; Elfriede (b. 1912) and Hans-Peter (b. 1916). In 1918, she was begging for food in the streets. A little later, leaving her husband and two children, she married Baron Rudolf von Weigl, a talented, but poor, sculptor. She played music and had a good soprano voice. She never shared her father's passion for automobiles and never owned an automobile. Jellinek died in Vienna, from bone cancer, in 1929, at the age of 39, and was buried in Vienna in the family grave near her grandfather, the former chief rabbi of Vienna,

Adolf Jellinek Adolf Jellinek ( ''Aharon Jelinek''; 26 June 1821 in Drslavice, Moravia – 28 December 1893 in Vienna) was an Austrian rabbi and scholar. After filling clerical posts in Leipzig (1845–1856), he became a preacher at the Leopoldstädter Temp ...

.Claude Wainstain, "une Mercedes en or", La Terre Retrouvée, Paris, May 1984 In 1926, Daimler merged with

Benz & Cie Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Benz (; born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant; 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929) was a German engine designer and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885 is considered the first practical modern automob ...

; although the company traded as

Daimler-Benz Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...

, it gave the name "

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

" to its cars to preserve the respected Mercedes brand.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jellinek, Mercedes 1889 births 1929 deaths Austrian children Austrian Jews Austrian people of Czech-Jewish descent Deaths from bone cancer Mercedes-Benz Musicians from Vienna