is gingerbread really from Germany?

What is the translation of "gingerbread" from German to English? I speak the language and lived there for several years and I, for one, never encountered the kind of gingerbread cookies and houses referred to on this website. Lebkuchen is close to what, as an American, I've come to identify as gingerbread and it is in facta traditional item around christmas time. But Lebkuchen varies so drastically from region to region and recipe to recipe that I believe it is more commonly seen as a genre of spiced cakes, and less often presented in the kind of texture and flavor that most Americans have come to identify as "gingerbread cookies."
To claim that gingerbread has its roots in Germany may not be inaccurate, but it is subject to debate, especially among Germans who know what an American refers to when s/he speaks of gingerbread cookies. As far as I can tell, Gingerbread as we know it today, has an obscure and obfuscated history, with many cultures reinterpreting old European recipes for pastry and baked goods, until what we call gingerbread in modern times barely shares any resemblence to what some claim were its forefathers even as recently as 100 years ago.
My point is simply that gingerbread is not "most clearly a German contribution." I think most Germans would agree, are bewildred by the frequent (mis)association of present-day gingerbread to old Europe bakery goods, and would prefer a more precise history if possible. If not, then accept it and love it as the mongrel offspring it is today. Unless some native German is very clear about contrary perceptions of "gingerbread" and can relate a fairly clear and direct history of its evolution into what it is today, then please reconsider, if not refrain, from identifying gingerbread cookies and gingerbread men as having strong German roots. I'd love to be disabused of my opinions listed here and welcome any response. But the fact that gingerbread is so difficult to translate accurately seems like a strong indicator supporting my contentions here. I've Lebkuchen 100's of times and it is rarely what I would call gingerbread. I've had Pfefferkuchen that has been close on occasion. But the gingerbread that has such a following today in American culture is not an adaptation of a traditionally German cookie, pastry, or baked good. FYI.
Warren F. W