 As discussed above, some derive the name from the Celtic, suggesting that the remnants of Celtic settlement here persisted through Roman times.Likelier, though, is that the name is of Alemannic origin, and that when the Franks drove the Alemanni out of the land (Battle of Tolbiac, or Zülpich, 496), slight remnants of settlement persisted, and thus the Alemannic word for "brook" was retained and adopted (the modern German word for "brook" is "Bach", also a common placename element).Oberalben has been called by other names over the ages