The name of the town means "Burg on the Sea", the former referring to the castle which, according to a tradition from 1548, was built here in 630 by the Merovingian king Dagobert I.
The commune obtained the status of free city in 1299, though nominally still under the Bishop of Constance. In 1803 it was annexed to the Land of Baden.
After World War II, Meersburg remained in the French military occupation area in Germany
