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Gura Humora & South Bukovina, Surnames History and Origin

 

ABRAHAM

  • From the Hebrew personal name Avraham, borne by a Biblical patriarch revered by Jews as the founding father of the Jewish people (Genesis 11–25), and by Muslims as founder of all the Semitic peoples, both Hebrew and Arab (compare Ibrahim). The name is explained in Genesis 17:5 as being derived from Hebrew av hamon goyim ‘father of a multitude of nations’. It was widely used as a personal name among Christians as well as Jews in the Middle Ages in diverse cultures from northern Europe to southern India. It is also found as a given name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. has come to be used as a family name among families from Kerala.

ABRAMOWITZ

  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): patronymic from Abram, a reduced form of the personal name Abraham.

 ADELSBERG 

  • First found in Austria where this family name becomes a prominent contributor to the development of the district of ancient times.

ADELSTEIN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name, or ornamental-occupational name for a jeweler, from German Edelstein in the sense ‘precious stone’.

ADLER

  • German: from Adler ‘eagle’, denoting someone living in a house identified by the sign of an eagle. The German noun is from Middle High German adelar, itself a compound of adel ‘noble’ + ar ‘eagle’. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, being found for example in Czech, Polish, Slovenian, and Hungarian (Ádler).
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name meaning ‘eagle’.

AHARON

  • Jewish: variant of Aaron. Mainly Jewish: from the Biblical Hebrew personal name Aharon, which was borne by the first high priest of the Israelites, the brother of Moses (Exodus 4:14). Like Moses, it is probably of Egyptian origin, with a meaning no longer recoverable. In some countries Aaron was also a gentile personal name; not all occurrences of the surname are Jewish.

AIZIC 

ALTKOPF 

ALTMAN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Altmann. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German altman, German Altmann, literally ‘old man’, applied either as a personal name or as a nickname for an older man as distinguished from a younger one.

ALTSCHUELLER 

APTER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from Apt, the Yiddish name of Opatów in Kielce voivodeship, Poland. The place name (in German, Yiddish, and Polish) is from a root meaning ‘abbot’, the place having been named for the local abbey.

ASCHKENASI

  • Jewish: nickname applied by Jews in Slavic countries for a Jew from Germany; it was also used to denote a Yiddish-speaking Jew who had settled in an area where non-Ashkenazic Jews were in the majority. Ashkenaz is a Biblical place name (Genesis 10:3, Jeremiah 51: 27), etymologically related to Greek Skythia ‘Scythia’. However, since the 9th century ad, if not earlier, it has been applied to Germany.

AXELRAD

  • Jewish: variant of Axelrod, Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Akslrod, which is of uncertain derivation, perhaps from Alexander

BABAD

BAER

  • German (Bär): from Middle High German ber ‘bear’, a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal in some way, a metonymic occupational name for someone who kept a performing bear, or a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a bear. In some cases, it may derive from a personal name containing this element.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish male personal name Ber, from Yiddish ber ‘bear’.

BALABUST 

BART 

  • German: variant of Barth, or from a Germanic personal name, cognate of Old High German beraht ‘bright’, ‘shining’, as in Berthold.

BARTFELD 

BAUMGARTEN

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic or metonymic occupational name for someone who owned or lived by an orchard or was employed in one, from Middle High German boumgarte ‘orchard’ (a compound of boum ‘tree’ + garte ‘enclosure’), German Baumgarten. There are also several villages named with this word, and so in some cases the surname may have originated as a habitational name from one of these. As a Jewish name, it is mainly ornamental.

BEER 

  • North German and Dutch: from Middle Low German bare, Middle Dutch bere ‘bear’, applied as a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal in some way, or as a metonymic occupational name for someone who kept a performing bear. Alternatively, it could have been a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a bear, or from a Germanic personal name with this as the first element.

BENDIT

BERGER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic name for someone who lived in the mountains or hills (see Berg). As a Jewish name it is mainly ornamental. It is found as a surname throughout central and eastern Europe, either as a surname of German origin or as a German translation of a topographic name with similar meaning, for example Slovenian Gricar, Hribar, Gorjan or Gorjanc.

BERGMAN 

  • German variant of Berg, reinforced by the addition of the suffix -man(n) ‘man’, a topographic name in most cases, but in some an occupational name for a miner.

BERKOWICZ 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from the Yiddish male personal name Berke, Germanized form of either the Polish spelling Berkowicz or eastern Slavic Berkovich.

BERL

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): pet form of the Yiddish male name Ber.

BERNFELD

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from the Yiddish personal name Ber (‘bear’) + German Feld ‘open country’.

BERNSTEIN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Bernstein ‘amber’ (from Middle Low German bernen ‘to burn’ + sten ‘stone’; it was thought to be created by burning, although it is in fact fossilized pine resin).
  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): in some cases perhaps a metonymic occupational name for a craftsman or dealer in amber.

BESNER

BIEDERMANN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): surname adopted because of its honorific meaning, from modern German bieder ‘honest’, ‘upright’ + -mann ‘man’.

BIENER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) and German: occupational name for a beekeeper, a variant of Bien, with the addition of the -er agent suffix.

BIONOWICI

BIRNBAUM

  • German: topographic name for someone who lived by a pear tree, from Middle High German bir ‘pear’ + boum ‘tree’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Birnbaum ‘pear tree’, applied mainly as an ornamental name, possibly occasionally as a topographic name.

BITKOWER

BITTMANN

BLASENSTEIN

BLECHER

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a worker in tin or some other metal.

BLUM

  • German: from Middle High German bluom ‘flower’, hence an occupational name for a flower gardener or a florist.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Blume, Yiddish blum ‘flower’.

BLUMENFELD

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of German Blume ‘flower’ + Feld ‘field’.

BRANDES

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from the Czech town of Brandýs, on the Labe (Elbe) river, called Brandeis in German.

BRANDMAN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name, a derivative of Brand. habitational name from the Czech town of Brandýs, on the Labe (Elbe) river, called Brandeis in German.

BRAUN

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname from German braun ‘brown’ (Middle High German brun), referring to the color of the hair, complexion, or clothing, or from the personal name Bruno, which was borne by the Dukes of Saxony, among others, from the 10th century or before. It was also the name of several medieval German and Italian saints, including St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian order (1030–1101), who was born in Cologne.

BRAUNSTEIN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of German braun ‘brown’ + Stein ‘stone’.

BRECHER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from an agent derivative of German brechen ‘to break’, an occupational name for someone who crushed hemp or flax, or possibly a nickname for a lawbreaker.

BREIER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Breuer or Bräuer, North German and Ashkenazic Jewish, or Americanized form of German Bräuer, an occupational name for a brewer of beer or ale, from Middle Low German bruwer or Middle High German briuwer ‘brewer’.

BRENDER 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Brander. Perhaps an occupational name for fireman or distiller, from German Brand, Yiddish brand ‘conflagration’.

BUCHBINDER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a bookbinder, German Buchbinder.

BUECHLER

  • from the common field name Büchle ‘beech stand’, the -er suffix denoting an inhabitant.

BURG

  • Jewish: variant of Burger. German, English, and Dutch: status name for a freeman of a borough, especially one who was a member of its governing council, a derivative of Middle High German burc, Middle English burg ‘(fortified) town’, Middle Dutch burch. The English name is found occasionally as a surname from the 13th century onwards but is not recorded as a vocabulary word until the 16th century. The usual English term was the Old French word burgeis ‘burgess’. This name is frequent throughout central and eastern Europe. It also occurs as an Ashkenazic Jewish family name, but the reasons for its adoption are uncertain.

CAHANE

  • Jewish (from Romania): variant of Cohen, from Hebrew kohen ‘priest’. Priests are traditionally regarded as members of a hereditary caste descended from Aaron, brother of Moses.

CLASSEN

  • Dutch, North German, and Danish: patronymic from the personal name Klaas, a reduced form of Nik(o)laas

COHEN

  • Jewish: from Hebrew kohen ‘priest’. Priests are traditionally regarded as members of a hereditary caste descended from Aaron, brother of Moses.

COHN

  • Variant spelling of Cohen. : from Hebrew kohen ‘priest’. Priests are traditionally regarded as members of a hereditary caste descended from Aaron, brother of Moses.

DACHNER

DALFIN

DALFINER

DANKNER

DASKEL

  • Jewish (from Romania and Moldova): occupational name from Romanian dascal ‘teacher’, ‘cantor’ (in a synagogue).

DAUBER

  • Variant of Tauber or a habitational name from Dauba, near Aussig, now in Czech Republic.
  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Taub, with the strong inflectional ending -er, originally used before a male personal name.

DAWIDOWICZ

  • From David, the son of David

DERBARMDIKER

DERMER

  • German: from an old personal name, Terrimar, a variant of Därr.
  • German: variant of Dörmer (standard German Türmer), an occupational name for a watchman on a tower (of a castle or town), from an agent derivative of Middle Low German torn or Middle High German turn ‘tower’.
  • Jewish: unexplained.

DISTENFELD

DOLBERG

  • Dutch: habitational name from Dolberg in Klimmen, Netherlands, or possibly from Dolberg in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.

DOLINER

DONNENFELD

DRASINOVER

DRUCKMAN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a printer.

EBENSTEIN 

ECKHAUS 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic or ornamental name from German Eckhaus ‘corner house’.

EDELSTEIN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name, from German Edelstein ‘gem’, ‘precious stone’.

EGER 

  • Hungarian: habitational name for someone from any of various places called Eger, in Fehér, Heves, and Zala counties, or former Nyitra County, now in Slovakia. In some cases the name may derive from éger ‘alder’.
  • German: habitational name from Eger in western Bohemia (Czech name Cheb).

EHRLICH 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname or ornamental name from German ehrlich ‘honorable’, ‘honest’, or Yiddish erlekh ‘honest’, ‘virtuous’.

EIDINGER 

EIFERMANN 

EISENKRAFT 

ELLENBOGEN 

  • German: topographic name for someone who lived by a bend in a river, from Middle High German el(l)enboge ‘elbow’, or habitational name from any of several places named Ellenbogen or Ehlenbogen from this word.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Ellenbogen ‘elbow’.

ELOSOVAR 

ENGLER

  • South German: patronymic from Engel, Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Engel ‘angel’

 ESSNER 

  • German: probably a reduced form of Essener, a habitational name for someone from a place named Essen, of which there are several in northern Germany.

FALIK 

FASSLER 

  • German (also Fässler): occupational name for a cooper, from Middle High German vaz, vezzel ‘keg’ (a diminutive of vaz ‘barrel’) + the agent suffix -er.

FAUST

  • German, Jewish (Ashkenazic), and French (Alsace-Lorraine): from Middle High German fust ‘fist’, presumably a nickname for a strong or pugnacious person or for someone with a club hand or other deformity of the hand.

FEDER

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a trader in feathers or in quill pens, from Middle High German veder(e), German Feder ‘feather’, ‘quill’, ‘pen’.

FEIBISCH 

FEIBUS 

FEIGER 

FEINGOLD

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of German fein ‘fine’ + Gold ‘gold’.

FEINHOLZ 

FEIT

  • nickname from Middle High German feit ‘adorned’, ‘pretty’

FELDHAMMER 

FELDMANN 

  • German: topographic name for someone who lived in open country; a variant of Feld, with the addition of Middle High German man ‘man’.

FELDSTEIN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of German Feld ‘field’ + Stein ‘stone’.

 FEUCHLANDER 

FEUER 

FEUERWERKER

FICHMAN 

FINKLER 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Finkel, Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): ornamental name from Yiddish finkl ‘sparkle’.

FISCHEL 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Fishl, Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Fishl, literally ‘little fish’, used as a vernacular equivalent for the Biblical Efraym (Ephraim). Ephraim became associated with the fish because he was blessed by his father Jacob (Genesis 48:16) with the words veyidgu larov ‘Let them grow into a multitude’, the verb yidgu, containing the root letters of Hebrew dag ‘fish’

FISCHER 

  • German, Danish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a fisherman, from Fisch + the agent suffix -er. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

FISCHLER

  • South German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Fischer.

FIUL 

FLEISCHER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a butcher, from Fleisch ‘flesh’, ‘meat’ + the agent suffix -er.

FRANKEL

  • German (also Fränkel) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): diminutive of Frank, ethnic or regional name for someone from Franconia (German Franken), a region of southwestern Germany so called from its early settlement by the Franks, a Germanic people who inhabited the lands around the river Rhine in Roman times.

 FREIER

  • Status name of the feudal system denoting a free man, as opposed to a bondsman, from an inflected form of Middle High German vri ‘free’.
  • Archaic occupational name, from Middle High German, Middle Low German vrier, vriger, denoting a man who had the ceremonial duty of asking guests to a wedding.

 FREMINGER

FREUNDLICH

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname meaning ‘friendly’, a derivative of Freund. Among Jews this is mainly an ornamental name. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Freund ‘friend’.

FRIDEL

FRIEDMAN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): elaborated form of Fried. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Yiddish frid ‘peace’. Compare modern German Friede, which was sometimes chosen as a translation of the Hebrew personal name Shlomo, whose root letters are the same as those of shalom ‘peace’, although in most cases it is simply an ornamental name.

FRITZ

  • German: from a pet form of Friedrich. It is also found as a surname in Denmark, Sweden, and elsewhere.

FRONER

FUCHS

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German vuhs, German Fuchs ‘fox’, nickname for a sly or cunning person, or for someone with red hair. This name is widespread throughout central Europe. As a Jewish name, it is mainly an ornamental name.

FUHRER

  • (Führer): occupational name for a carrier or carter, a driver of horse-drawn vehicles, Middle High German vüerer

FUHRMAN

  • Respelling of German Fuhrmann. German: from Middle High German vuorman ‘carter’, ‘driver’.

FUKSS

FUND 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Pfund ‘pound’, either a nickname or one of the names chosen at random from vocabulary words in the 18th and 19th centuries by government officials at the time when surnames became compulsory.

FURMANN

GABA

  • From Gabe, German: from a short form of Germanic personal name formed with geba ‘gift’. Compare Gebhardt.

GÄNSER

  • German: occupational name for a breeder or keeper of geese, from an agent derivative of Middle High German gans ‘goose’.

GABOR

  • Hungarian (Gábor) and Jewish (from Hungary): from the personal name Gábor, Hungarian form of Gabriel.

GARTENLAUB

GELBER  

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): inflected form of Gelb, Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a man with red hair.

 GELLER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a man with red hair, from the strong form of Yiddish gel ‘red-headed’ (Middle High German gel ‘yellow’). There has been considerable confusion with German gelb ‘yellow’, since the meaning change from ‘yellow’ to ‘red’ took place only in Yiddish and only with reference to people’s complexion or hair coloring.
  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant of Heller , originating under Russian influence, since Russian has no h and alters h in borrowed words to g.

GENSER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for someone who kept, tended, or sold geese, from Middle High German gans ‘goose’.

GENSLER 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a breeder of geese, from an agent derivative of German Gans ‘goose’.

GERSCHONOWICZ

GERTLER

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Gürtler, German (Gürtler): occupational name for a maker of straps and belts, from Middle High German gurtel ‘belt’ (specifically a leather belt with brass fittings, from which a purse would be hung).

GEWIRER 

GHELMAN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Geller, Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a man with red hair, from the strong form of Yiddish gel ‘red-headed’ (Middle High German gel ‘yellow’). There has been considerable confusion with German gelb ‘yellow’, since the meaning change from ‘yellow’ to ‘red’ took place only in Yiddish and only with reference to people’s complexion or hair coloring.
  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant of Heller, originating under Russian influence, since Russian has no h and alters h in borrowed words to g. Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a person with fair hair or a light complexion, from an inflected form, used before a male personal name, of German hell ‘light’, ‘bright’, Yiddish hel.

GHIMPOVICI

GIMPEL

  • German: from a pet form of the personal name Gumprecht.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Gimpl, a derivative of German Gumprecht.

GINGOLD

  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): ornamental name from Yiddish gingold ‘fine gold’.

GINSBERG

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental variant of Ginsburg. Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from Günzburg in Swabia, which derives its name from the river Günz (in early Latin records Guntia, probably of Celtic origin) + Old High German burg ‘fortress’, ‘walled town’.

GISELNIK

GLASBERG 

GLUECKSTERN 

GOLDAPER 

GOLDENBERG 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name, a compound of German golden ‘golden’ + Berg ‘mountain’, ‘hill’.

GOLDFARB 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of German Gold ‘gold’ + Farbe ‘color’.

GOLDHAGEN

GOLDHIRSCH 

GOLDSCHEIN

GOLDSCHMIDT 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a worker in gold, Middle High German goltsmit, German Goldschmied.

GOLDSCLHLAGER 

GOLDSTEIN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of German Gold ‘gold’ + Stein ‘stone’.
  • German: from a medieval personal name, nickname, or occupational name from Middle High German, Middle Low German golste(i)n ‘gold stone’, ‘precious stone’, (probably chrysolite or topaz, which was used as a testing stone by alchemists).

GOTESMAN 

GOTTFRIED

  • German: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements god, got ‘god’ + frid(u) ‘peace’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of German Gott ‘God’ + Friede ‘peace’, or ornamental adoption of the German personal name as a surname.

GOTTLIEB

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the personal name Gottlieb. As a German personal name this is for the most part a translation of Greek Theophilos (‘one who loves God’) that became very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries with the rise of the Pietist movement. Among German Jews, it existed, independently from German Christians, since the Middle Ages.
  • German: from the personal name Goteleib, based on Old High German god, got ‘god’ + leiba ‘offspring’, ‘son’.

GRABER

  • German: from an agent derivative of Middle High German graben ‘to dig or excavate’, hence an occupational name for a digger of graves or ditches, or an engraver of seals. This name is also found in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a grave-digger, either from German Gräber or from a Yiddishized form of Polish grabarz.

GRAF

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name selected, like Herzog and other words denoting titles, because of their aristocratic connotations

GRATZ

  • habitational name from several places so named in Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia.
  • From a short form of a Germanic personal name reflected by Old High German gratag ‘greedy’.

GRIMBERG

GRINBERG

  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant of Grünberg, Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German grün ‘green’ + Berg ‘mountain’, ‘hill’.

GRONICH

GROPPER

  • German: occupational name for someone who fished for grouper, from Gropp + -er suffix denoting human agency.
  • North German (Gröpper): Westphalian occupational name for a maker of metal or earthenware vessels, from Middle Low German grope ‘pot’ + agent suffix -er.

GROSMAN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): elaborated form of Gross. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a big man, from Middle High German groz ‘large’, ‘thick’, ‘corpulent’, German gross. The Jewish name has been Hebraicized as Gadol, from Hebrew gadol ‘large’. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, not only in German-speaking countries.

GROSS

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a big man, from Middle High German groz ‘large’, ‘thick’, ‘corpulent’, German gross. The Jewish name has been Hebraicized as Gadol, from Hebrew gadol ‘large’. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, not only in German-speaking countries.

GRUENFELD

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of German grün ‘green’ + Feld ‘field’

GRÜNBERG

GRUNFELD

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of German grün ‘green’ + Feld ‘field’.

GUTTMAN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name or nickname from German, Yiddish gut ‘good’ + man(n) ‘man’; it was also used as a male personal name, from which the surname may be derived in some cases.

HAAR

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with a copious or otherwise noticeable head of hair, from Middle High German har ‘hair’, German Haar ‘hair’.

HALEVI

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic and Sephardic): from the Biblical personal name Levi, from a Hebrew word meaning ‘joining’. This was borne by a son of Jacob and Leah (Genesis 29: 34). Bearers of this name are Levites, members of the tribe of Levi, who form a hereditary caste who assist the kohanim in their priestly duties.

HALLER

  • German: variant of Heller, Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a person with fair hair or a light complexion, from an inflected form, used before a male personal name, of German hell ‘light’, ‘bright’, Yiddish hel.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from Schwäbisch Hall.

HALPERIN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Halpern. Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from the city of Heilbronn in Württemberg, which had a large and influential Jewish population in medieval times.

HALSTUCH

HARTH

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Hart, ornamental name or a nickname from German and Yiddish hart ‘hard’.

.HEIER

  • South German: generally a variant of Hauer, but in some cases an occupational name from Middle High German heie ‘ranger’, ‘guard’.

HENNER 

  • German: patronymic from Henne German: nickname or metonymic occupational name for a poultry keeper from Middle High German henne ‘hen’, ‘chicken’. German: habitational name from Hänner in Säckingen,

HELLER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from Schwäbisch Hall.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a person with fair hair or a light complexion, from an inflected form, used before a male personal name, of German hell ‘light’, ‘bright’, Yiddish hel.
  • German: nickname from the small medieval coin known as the häller or heller because it was first minted (in 1208) at the Swabian town of (Schwäbisch) Hall. Compare Hall.

HELLMAN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Hellerman. Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a person with fair hair or a light complexion, a derivative of Heller

HENDLER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a merchant or trader, Middle High German hendeler, German Händler.

HERLING

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Herling ‘unripe grapes’.

HESS

  • German, Dutch, Danish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): regional name for someone from the territory of Hesse (German Hessen).

HOCHSTÄTD

HOFFER

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Hofer, South German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic name for someone who lived at, worked on, or managed a farm, from Middle High German hof ‘farmstead’, ‘manor farm’, ‘court’ + the agent suffix -er.

HOFFMANN

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): status name for a steward on a farm or estate, from German hof(f) ‘manorfarm’, ‘courtyard’ + Mann ‘man’. Originally, this was a status name for a farmer who owned his own land as opposed to holding it by rent or feudal obligation, but the name soon came to denote the manager or steward of a manor farm, in which sense it is extremely frequent throughout central and eastern Europe; also among Jews, since many Jews held managerial positions on non-Jewish estates. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, not only in German-speaking lands.

 HOLZER

  • German (also Hölzer) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant spelling of Holtzer, Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a woodcutter or someone who sold wood, from an agent derivative of German Holz ‘wood’.

HOROWITZ 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from Horovice in central Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic, which is named with a short form of a personal name formed with Hor, as for example Horimir, Horislav.

HORTNER 

HUBER 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from a southern Yiddish pronunciation of Yiddish hober ‘oats’, German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a grower of or dealer in oats, from Middle High German haber(e) ‘oats’, modern German Hafer. As a Jewish surname, it is in many cases ornamental.

HUTTMAN 

IACOB 

  • Jewish, derivative, via Latin Jacobus, from the Hebrew personal name ya‘aqobh (Yaakov). In the Bible, this is the name of the younger twin brother of Esau (Genesis 25:26), who took advantage of the latter’s hunger and impetuousness to persuade him to part with his birthright ‘for a mess of potage’. The name is traditionally interpreted as coming from Hebrew akev ‘heel’, and Jacob is said to have been born holding on to Esau’s heel.

ISAK 

IUNI 

IWANIER 

IZAK

JAEGER 

  • German (mostly Jäger) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a hunter, Middle High German jeger(e), Middle Low German jeger(e) (agent derivatives of jagen ‘to hunt’); as a Jewish surname, it is mainly ornamental, derived from German Jäger. The surname is also established in Scandinavia (Swedish Jäger; Danish and Norwegian Jæger) and has been Latinized as Venator.

JERES

JURAN 

  • Czech and Slovak (Juran, Jurán) and Croatian: from a derivative of the personal name, Czech (Moravian dialect) Jura, Croatian Juraj, vernacular forms of Greek Georgios

JURGRAU

KABRAN 

KAHAN

·        Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): one of the many forms of Cohen, Jewish: from Hebrew kohen ‘priest’. Priests are traditionally regarded as members of a hereditary caste descended from Aaron, brother of Moses. 

KAHN 

  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): one of the many forms of Cohen, Jewish: from Hebrew kohen ‘priest’. Priests are traditionally regarded as members of a hereditary caste descended from Aaron, brother of Moses.

KALMAN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Kalmen, an everyday form of Kloynemes (from Hebrew Kalonimos, which is from Greek kalos ‘lovely’ or kallos ‘beauty’ + onyma ‘name’). This Hebrew name is first recorded in the Talmud and has been used continuously since then.

KARPEL

  • German and Polish: from a personal name, a diminutive of Karp.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name karpl, a pet form of Karp. German, Polish, and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from Middle High German karp(f)e, Middle Low German karpe, or Slavic (Russian and Polish) and Yiddish karp ‘carp’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a carp fisherman or seller of these fish, or a nickname for someone thought to resemble the fish. As a Jewish surname it is often of ornamental origin.
  • Altered form of Polish Karpiel ‘rutabago’, a metonymic nickname for a peasant farmer.

KATZ

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): acronym from the Hebrew phrase kohen tsedek ‘priest of righteousness’ (see Cohen).

KAUFMANN  

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the personal name Kaufman, Yiddish koyfman, meaning ‘merchant’.

KELLNER

  • German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from Middle High German kelnære, Middle Dutch kel(le)nare, German Kellner ‘cellarman’. This term developed various specialized senses: a steward, an overseer in a castle, monastery, or the like, and in modern usage, a wine waiter.

KERKER

  • South German: variant of Kercher, but also from the dialect word Kerker ‘prison’ (Latin carcer), hence a metonymic occupational name for a prison warder or possibly a topographic name.
  • North German: topographic name for someone who lived near a church, from Low German kerke ‘church’, or possibly an occupational name from a reduced form of Low German Kerkener ‘sexton’.

KERZNER

  • South German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a candlemaker, from Middle High German kerze ‘candle’, German Kerze + the agent suffix -(n)er.

KIMEL 

  • Variant of German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) Kimmel. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German kumin, German Kümmel ‘caraway’ (related to Latin cuminum, a word of Oriental origin, like the plant itself), hence a metonymic occupational name for a spicer, literally a supplier of caraway seeds.

KIMELMANN 

  • Variant of German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) Kimmel. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German kumin, German Kümmel ‘caraway’ (related to Latin cuminum, a word of Oriental origin, like the plant itself), hence a metonymic occupational name for a spicer, literally a supplier of caraway seeds.

KINIK 

KINSBRUNER 

KIRSCHENBAUM

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Kirschbaum. German: topographic name from Kirschbaum ‘cherry tree’.

KISSMANN 

KLANG

  • Swedish: soldier’s name from klang ‘clang’, ‘ringing noise’.
  • Possibly also German: from an altered and reduced form of the personal name Nikolaus, vernacular form of Greek Nikolaos

KLECKNER

  • Respelling of German Klöckner, North German, Rhineland, and Westphalian (Klöckner): occupational name for a bell ringer, sexton, or the like, from an agent derivative of  Klock.

KLEIN

  • German, Dutch (also de Klein(e)) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German, Dutch, German klein ‘small’, or Yiddish kleyn. This was a nickname for a person of small stature, but is also often found as a distinguishing name for a junior male, usually a son, in names such as Kleinhans and Kleinpeter. This name is common and widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

KLEINBERGER

  • From Kleinberg, Jewish: ornamental name from German klein ‘small’ + Berg ‘mountain’, ‘hill’.

KLEKNER

KLIFFER

KLINGHOFER

KNAUER

  • (Silesian) nickname for a gnarled person, from Middle High German knur(e) ‘knot’, ‘gnarl’.
  • habitational name for someone from either of two places in Thuringia called Knau.

KNOBLER

KOBER

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from a derivative of the personal name Jakob or Yakov.
  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Kober ‘basket’, Middle High German kober, hence a metonymic occupational name for a basket maker or perhaps a nickname for someone who carried a basket on his back.
  • German (Köber): habitational name for someone from a place called Köben.

KOBRIN

  • Jewish (from Belarus): habitational name from Kobrin, now in Belarus.

KOCH

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from Middle High German koch, German Koch ‘cook’ (cognate with Latin coquus). The name in this sense is widespread throughout eastern and central Europe, and is also well established in Denmark.

KOERNER

  • Occupational name for a grain merchant or possibly for the administrator of a granary, Middle High German körner.
  • Nickname for a miller, from a noun derivative of Middle High German kürne ‘mill’.

KOFFLER

  • South German (also Köf(f)ler): topographic name for someone living by a rounded hilltop

KOHN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Cohen.

KÖNIG

  • German (König) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German kunic, German König ‘king’, hence a German nickname for a servant or retainer of a king (for example, a farmer on a royal demesne); or alternatively a status name for the head of a craftmen’s guild, or a society of sharpshooters or minstrels. As a Jewish surname, it was ornamental, one of several such Ashkenazic names based on European titles of nobility or royalty.

KOPPELMANN  

KORBER 

  • German (also Körber) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a basketmaker, from an agent derivative of Korb, German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German korb, German Korb ‘basket’, applied as a metonymic occupational name for a basketmaker or for a peddler who carried his wares around in a basket.

KORN

  • German: from Middle High German korn ‘grain’, a metonymic occupational name for a factor or dealer in grain or a nickname for a peasant.

KÖRNER

  • Occupational name for a grain merchant or possibly for the administrator of a granary, Middle High German körner.
  • Nickname for a miller, from a noun derivative of Middle High German kürne ‘mill’.

KOSTINER

KRAFT

  • German (also Kräft), Danish, Swedish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a strong man, from Old High German kraft, German Kraft ‘strength’, ‘power’. The Swedish name probably originated as a soldier’s name. In part the German and Danish names possibly also derive from a late survival of the same word used as a byname, Old High German Chraft(o), Old Norse Kraptr.

KRAKAUER

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from the Polish city of Kraków, from its German name Krakau.

KREIMER 

  • Jewish (from Ukraine and Poland): occupational name from Yiddish dialect kreymer ‘shopkeeper’

KRIMSKI 

KRONENFELD

KRUMHOLZ 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Krumbholz ‘bent timber’, ‘mountain pine’, hence probably a metonymic occupational name for a cartwright or wheelwright. As a Jewish surname it is ornamental.

KULA 

  • Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Jewish (from Poland): nickname for a rotund person, from Polish kula ‘ball’, Czech dialect kula (standard Czech koule).
  • Jewish (from Belarus): habitational name from Kulya, now in Belarus.

KURZ 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant spelling of Kurtz. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone who was short in stature, from Middle High German kur(t)z, German kurz ‘short’.

KURZBERG 

LACHMANN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name lakhman, a variant of Nachman.

LADENHEIM

LAMPNER

LANDAU

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from either of two places called Landau, in the Palatinate and in Alsace, named with Old High German lant ‘land’, ‘territory’ + auwa ‘damp valley’. According to family history, the Jewish surname originated from the Palatinate.

LANDMANN

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Lander, German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic name from Middle High German lant, German Land ‘land’, ‘territory’ used originally to denote either someone who was a native of the area in which he lived, in contrast to a newcomer ,or someone who lived in the countryside as opposed to a town.

LANDSBERG 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from any of several places so named.

LANDWEHR 

  • German: from a Germanic personal name, Lantwer, composed of the elements lant ‘land’ + wer ‘defender’.

LANG

  • German, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a tall person.

LANGER 

  • German, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a tall person.

LANZET 

LASTER

LAUFER 

  • German (Läufer) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a messenger or a nickname for a fast runner, from an agent derivative of Middle
  • High German loufen, German laufen ‘to run’.

LAUFMANN

  •  German (Laufmann) or Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Laufer. 

LAZAR 

  • Jewish, German, Hungarian (Lázár), Slovenian, and Polish: from a personal name of Aramaic origin, a reduced form of the Hebrew male personal name Elazar, composed of the elements El ‘God’ + azar ‘help’, and meaning ‘may God help him’ or ‘God has helped (i.e., by granting a son)’. This was well established in central Europe as a Jewish name.

LEBENSCHUSS

LECKER

  • German: derogatory nickname a sycophant or sponger, from an agent derivative of lecken ‘to lick’.

LEDER

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a tanner or leatherworker, from Middle High German and Yiddish leder, German Leder ‘leather’.

LEHRER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a teacher, from modern German Lehrer, Yiddish lerer ‘teacher’.

LEIB

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Leyb, meaning ‘lion’, traditional Yiddish translation equivalent of the Hebrew name Yehuda (Judah), with reference to the Old Testament description of Judah as ‘a lion’s whelp’ (Genesis 49: 9).

LEIBOWICH

LEIMSIDER

LEISER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Leyzer, from the Biblical name Eliezer (Genesis 15: 2).

LENZ

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Lenz ‘spring’ (see 2), one of the class of ornamental names adopted from words denoting the seasons

LESSNER

  • German: habitational name for someone from any of several places named Lessen.

LETTICH

LIBRUS

LIEBERMAN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Liberman. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Liberman, meaning ‘beloved man’.

LIMZIDAR 

LINDER

  • German: habitational name from any of numerous places called Linden or Lindern, named with German Linden ‘lime trees’.

LIPP 

  • German: from a pet form of the personal name Philipp

LÖBEL

  • German (Löb) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a strong man, from Middle High German lebe, lewe ‘lion’, or a habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a lion.
  • Jewish (western Ashkenazic): variant of Leib.

LOCKER

  • From Lecker, German: derogatory nickname a sycophant or sponger, from an agent derivative of lecken ‘to lick’.

LÖWENSCHUSS 

LOWIN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): German and Polish spelling of Levin, Jewish (Ashkenazic and Sephardic): from the Biblical personal name Levi, from a Hebrew word meaning ‘joining’. This was borne by a son of Jacob and Leah (Genesis 29: 34). Bearers of this name are Levites, members of the tribe of Levi, who form a hereditary caste who assist the kohanim.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) and German: from the personal name Levin, which was also used by German Christians as a derivative of Liebwin. As a Jewish name it sometimes represents a pet form of western Yiddish ‘lion’

LUTWAK 

LEWIN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): German and Polish spelling of Levin, Jewish (Ashkenazic and Sephardic): from the Biblical personal name Levi, from a Hebrew word meaning ‘joining’. This was borne by a son of Jacob and Leah (Genesis 29: 34). Bearers of this name are Levites, members of the tribe of Levi, who form a hereditary caste who assist the kohanim.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) and German: from the personal name Levin, which was also used by German Christians as a derivative of Liebwin. As a Jewish name it sometimes represents a pet form of western Yiddish ‘lion’

MAIDANEK 

MAIER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Meyer (from Hebrew Meir ‘enlightener’, a derivative of Hebrew or ‘light’).

MARCOWICZ 

MARGULIES 

  • Jewish (from Ukraine and Poland): variant of Margolis. Jewish (from Belarus, Lithuania, and northeastern Poland): from the female personal name Margolis, meaning ‘pearls’ in Hebrew. The Hebrew word is ultimately of Greek origin, as in Greek margaron, margarites ‘pearl’

MARIAN 

  • Romanian: from the personal name Marian, from Latin Marianus

MARKUS 

  • German, Dutch, and Hungarian (Márkus): from the personal name, from Latin Marcus, Jewish from Mordechai.

MARMORISCH 

MECHLOWITZ 

MEHLER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a miller or flour merchant, from an agent derivative of German Mehl ‘flour’.

MEIER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Meyer (from Hebrew Meir ‘enlightener’, a derivative of Hebrew or ‘light’).

MEISELES 

MEISTER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): status name for someone who was master of his craft, from Middle High German meister ‘master’ (from Latin magister). The surname Meister is established throughout central Europe; in Poland it is also spelled Majster. As an Ashkenazic Jewish surname it denoted a rabbi as a leading figure in a Jewish community.

MELAMED 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic and Sephardic): Hebrew occupational name for a primary school teacher.

MELZER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Meltzer ‘maltster’. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a maltster, a brewer who used malt, from German Meltzer (an agent derivative of Middle High German malt ‘malt’, ‘germinated barley’), Yiddish meltser ‘maltster’. This surname is also established in Poland.

MENASCHES 

  • Jewish: from the Biblical male personal name Menashe

MENDELEWICZ

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Mendl, a diminutive of Man

MERDLER 

MERLAUB 

MILRAD 

MINTZ 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from the city of Mainz in Germany.

MITTELMAN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname from Yiddish mitlman ‘man of moderate means’.

MOLDIWER 

MONTAG 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German mantac, German Montag ‘Monday’. As a German name, this was a nickname for someone who had a particular association with this day of the week, probably because he owed feudal service then. As a Jewish name, it is either ornamental or it may have been adopted or given with reference to the day of registration of the surname.

MORDLER 

MORGENSTEIN 

  • Altered form of Morgenstern. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Morgenstern ‘morning star’, Yiddish morgn-shtern, one of the Jewish ornamental names taken from natural phenomena.
  • Ornamental name compound from German Morgen ‘morning’ + Stein ‘stone’.

MOSBERG 

MOSER

  • South German: topographic name for someone who lived near a peat bog, Middle High German mos, or a habitational name from a place named with this word.
  • North German (Möser): metonymic occupational name for a vegetable grower or seller, from an agent noun based on Middle Low German mos ‘vegetable’.

MOSZKOWICZ

MÜCK 

  • German (also Mück(e)): nickname from Middle High German mucke ‘midge’, ‘gnat’, denoting a small person, an irritating person, or someone considered to be of no importance.

MÜLLER 

  • German (Müller) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a miller, Middle High German müller, German Müller. In Germany Müller, Mueller is the most frequent of all surnames; in the U.S. it is often changed to Miller.

MÜNSTER

  • German and Dutch (Munster, Münster): habitational name from places called Munster or Münster, derived from Latin monasterium ‘monastery’, or a topographic name for someone who lived near a monastery.

MÜNZER

  • German (Münzer) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a moneyer, Middle High German münzære, GermanMünzer.

NEUMAN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Neumann. German, Danish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a newcomer to a place, from Middle High German niuwe, German neu ‘new’ + Middle High German man, German Mann ‘man’.

NOE

  • English, German, Dutch, French (Noé, Noë), Spanish (Noé), Catalan (Noè): from the Biblical personal name Noach ‘Noah’, which means ‘comfort’ in Hebrew. According to the Book of Genesis, Noah, having been forewarned by God, built an ark into which he took his family and representatives of every species of animal, and so was saved from the flood that God sent to destroy the world because of human wickedness. The personal name was not common among non-Jews in the Middle Ages, but the Biblical story was an extremely popular subject for miracle plays. In many cases, therefore, the surname probably derives from a nickname referring to someone who had played the part of Noah in a miracle play or pageant, rather than from a personal name.

NORMAN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Nordman. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic name from German Nord ‘north’ + man ‘man’

NUS 

OBERLAENDER 

OLIGER

  • Occupational name for an oil merchant, from Middle High German oleier ‘oil miller’ (i.e. someone who extracted olive oil from olives).
  • habitational name for someone from either of two places called Ohlig, in the Sieg district or in the Rhineland.

OSTFELD 

PÄCHT

  • German (of Slavic origin): from a pet form of Petr, Czech form of Peter.

PANKNER 

PASTERNAK 

  • Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from Polish, Ukrainian, and eastern Yiddish pasternak ‘parsnip’ (via Middle High German from Latin pastinaca), apparently a nickname or in the case of the Jewish surname, an ornamental name.

PATATU 

PAUKER 

PEREZ 

  • Jewish: from a Biblical name, borne by a grandson of the patriarch Jacob, meaning ‘burst forth’ (Genesis 38:29).

PERLMAN 

  • Elaborated form of Pearl, with the addition of Yiddish man ‘man’.
  • From the Yiddish female personal name Perl + man ‘man’, in the sense ‘husband of Perl’.

PERLMUTER

PISTINER 

POLAK 

  • Polish, Czech (Polák), and Jewish (Ashkenazic): ethnic name for someone from Poland. In the case of the Ashkenazic name, the reference is to a Jew from Poland. The name of the country (Polish Polska) derives from a Slavic element pole ‘open country’, ‘cleared land’. This surname is found throughout central and eastern Europe.

PREISS

  • German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a laudable or celebrated person, from Middle High German pris, Dutch prijs, German Preis ‘praise’, ‘fame’, ‘worth’.
  • Southern German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): regional name for someone from Prussia, from a southern German variant of Preuss or from Yiddish prays ‘Prussia’.

PREMINGER

RACHMUTH

RAIZ

RAPPAPORT

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): most people bearing this name are descended from Avrom-Menakhem Ben-Yankev Hakoyen Rapa, who lived in Porto, Italy, at the beginning of the 16th century. The etymology of his name is uncertain but possibly from German Rappe ‘raven’. Compare Rapp. According to one explanation his descendants added the name of their city, Porto, in order to distinguish themselves from unrelated Jews surnamed Rapa; according to another, there was a marriage between the Rapa and Porto families, and the issue of this union took the compound name.

RAUCH

  • Variant of Rau. German: nickname for a ruffian, earlier for a hairy person, from Middle High German ruch, ruhe, rouch ‘hairy’, ‘shaggy’, ‘rough’.
  • perhaps an occupational nickname for a blacksmith or charcoal burner, from Middle High German rouch, German Rauch ‘smoke’, or, in the case of the German name, a status name or nickname relating to a hearth tax (i.e. a tax that was calculated according to the number of fireplaces in each individual home).

REGENBOGEN

REICHER

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a wealthy or powerful man, from Middle High German rich ‘of noble descent’, ‘powerful’, ‘rich’, German reich ‘rich’.

REICHMAN

  • German (Reichmann) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a powerful or wealthy man, from Middle High German rich, German reich ‘noble’, ‘powerful’, ‘rich’ + man, modern German Mann ‘man’.

REIF

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name or nickname from German reif ‘mature’.

REINISCH

  • Eastern German (East Prussia): from a pet form of any of the various Germanic personal names with the first element ragin ‘counsel’, for example Reinhold or Reinhard

REINSTEIN 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental compound of German rein ‘pure’ + Stein ‘stone’.

REISBERG 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name compound from German Reis ‘rice’ + Berg ‘hill’.

REISS

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a dealer in rice or an ornamental name from German Reis ‘rice’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Reis ‘twig’, ‘branch’.

RENMERT 

RICZKER

RIESEL 

RINGEL

  • from Middle High German ringel, diminutive of rinc, ring ‘ring’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of bone, horn, or ivory rings
  • Topographic name for someone who lived in or by a circular plot or settlement, from the same word.
  • Metonymic occupational name for a cooper, from Middle Low German ringel ‘tub’.

RINGLER 

  • German: occupational name for a maker of bone, horn, or ivory rings, from an agent derivative of Middle High German ringelen ‘to provide with rings’.

RIPPEL 

  • Variant of Rüppel , or a variant of Rüpel.
  • From a pet form of a Germanic personal name based on ric ‘power(ful)’, ‘rich’.

RITSCHKER

ROBINSON

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Rubin or Rabin.

ROLL

  • German: from Middle High German rolle, rulle ‘roll’, ‘list’, possibly applied as a metonymic occupational name for a scribe.
  • German: habitational name for someone from either of two places named Rolle, in Westphalia and Pomerania.

RONES

  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): metronymic from the Yiddish female personal name Rone, of uncertain origin, + the Yiddish possessive suffix -s.

ROSENBACH 

  • German: habitational name from any of numerous places so named

ROSENBERG 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from any of numerous places so named (‘rose mountain’).
  • Swedish, Danish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of the elements ros(e) ‘rose’ + the affix -en (taken from German) + berg ‘mountain’.

ROSENBLATT

  • German: from Middle High German rosenblat ‘rose leaf’, presumably applied as a nickname.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental adoption of modern German Rosenblatt ‘rose leaf’.

ROSENBLUM

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of modern German Rosen- ‘rose’ + Blume ‘flower’.

ROSENFELD

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Rosenfeld ‘rose field’.

ROSENKRANTZ

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental adoption of the Dutch and German name, or of the German word Rosenkranz ‘wreath’.

ROSENSTRAUCH 

ROSENZWEIG

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Rosenzweig ‘rose twig’.

ROSNER 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Rose, Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from the word for the flower (German Rose, Yiddish royz), or a metronymic name from the Yiddish female personal name Royze, derived from the word for the flower.

ROTFELD

ROTH 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a person with red hair, from Middle High German rot, German rot ‘red’. As a Jewish surname it is also at least partly ornamental: its frequency as a Jewish surname is disproportionate to the number of Jews who, one may reasonably assume, were red-headed during the period of surname adoption.

RUBIN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Hebrew personal name Reuven (interpreted in Genesis 29:32 as reu ‘behold’ + ben ‘a son’). This Biblical name influenced the selection of Ashkenazic surnames that are ostensibly derived from the German, Yiddish, Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian vocabulary word rubin ‘ruby’ (from Late Latin rubinus (lapis), a derivative of rubeus ‘red’).

RUBINGER 

RUDICH

  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): patronymic from Rudy, Ukrainian, Polish, and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with red hair or a ruddy complexion, from Slavic rudy ‘red’.

RUEBNER

RUFF

  • German: from a reduced form of the personal name Rudolf.

SAFIER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Safir. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): ornamental name from northeastern Yiddish dialect safir and German Saphir ‘sapphire’.

 

SALMANOWITZ 

SALNER 

SALOMON 

  • Jewish, German, Dutch, Danish, French, Spanish (Salomón), and Polish: the usual spelling in these languages of Solomon and a variant in others.

SALZMAN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a salt producer or seller, from German Salz ‘salt’ + Mann ‘man’.
  • Respelling of the German surname Salzmann.

SAMMLER 

SAND 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic name for someone who lived on patch of sandy soil, from the vocabulary word sand. As a Swedish or Jewish name it was often purely ornamental.

SANGREICH

SCHACHER 

  • German (also Schächer): derogatory nickname from Middle High German schachære ‘robber’, ‘swindler’.
  • German: variant of Schach a Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from an acronym of Hebrew sifte kohen ‘lips of the priest’. This is the title of a religious commentary by Rabbi Schabtai Cohen.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): derogatory nickname from Yiddish shakher ‘petty traffic’, ‘bartering’, or ‘cheating’; or from the Polish word szacher ‘swindler’

SCHÄCHTER 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Schechter, Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name, from Yiddish shekhter ‘ritual slaughterer’ (an agent derivative of shekhtn, of which the stem is from Hebrew shachat ‘to slaughter’).

SCHAFFER

  • German: occupational name for a steward or bailiff, from an agent derivative of Middle High German schaffen ‘to manage’.
  • South German (Schäffer) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Schaefer, German (Schäfer) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a shepherd, from an agent derivative of German Schaf, Middle High German schaf ‘sheep’. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

SCHAPIRA 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Shapiro, Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): habitational name among Eastern European Jews from the Yiddish name of the German city of Speyer

SCHÄRF

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German, Middle Low German scherf, a coin worth half a penny, possibly applied as a nickname for a poor person.

SCHARFSTEIN

SCHATTNER

  • German and Jewish (western Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from any of several places named Schaten or Schatten, or a topographic name for someone living in a shady location, from Middle High German schate ‘shade’, ‘protection’.

SCHEIER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Yiddish shayer ‘barn’

SCHEPSER

SCHERZER 

  • German, Austrian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a jester or a nickname for a facetious person, from an agent derivative of Middle High German scherz, German Scherz ‘amusement’, ‘game’, ‘jest’.

SCHEUERMAN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Scheuer. Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic name from German Scheuer ‘barn’
  • Altered spelling of Scheuermann.

SCHIEBER 

  • habitational name for someone from any of several places named Schieben.
  • Occupational name for someone who used a tool that is pushed, from an agent derivative of Middle High German schieben ‘to push or shove’.

SCHILER

SCHLÄGEL 

  • Variant of Schlegel, German: from Middle High German slegel ‘hammer’, ‘tool for striking’ (Old High German slegil, a derivative of slahan ‘to strike’), hence a metonymic occupational name for a smith or mason, or a nickname for a forceful person.

SCHLEIER 

SCHLIESER 

SCHMELZER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a smelter, from an agent derivative of Middle High German smelzen, German schmelzen ‘to smelt metal’.

SCHMERLER 

SCHMIDT 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from Middle High German smit, German Schmied ‘blacksmith’. The German surname is found in many other parts of Europe, from Slovenia to Sweden.

SCHNAPP 

  • German: nickname for a chatterer, from Middle High German snappen ‘to chatter’.

SCHNARCH 

SCHNEER 

SCHNEIDER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a tailor, literally ‘cutter’, from Middle High German snider, German Schneider, Yiddish shnayder. The same term was sometimes used to denote a woodcutter. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

SCHOLL

  • German and Dutch: nickname for a lumpish person or a farmer, from Middle High German, Middle Dutch scholle ‘clod of earth’.

SCHREIBER

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Schreiber, Yiddish shrayber ‘writer’, adopted as a translation of Hebrew Soffer ‘scribe’.

SCHTEIGER

SCHUFF

  • German: metonymic occupational name for a maker or user of scoops and ladles, from Middle High German schuofe ‘ladle’.

SCHULMAN

  • German (Schulmann): probably an occupational name for a teacher in a school or seminary, from Middle High German schuol(e) + man ‘man’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Schuler. Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a Talmudic scholar or the sexton of a synagogue, from an agent derivative of Yiddish shul ‘synagogue’.

SCHWARTZKOPF

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with dark hair, from Middle High German swarz ‘black’, ‘dark’ + kopf ‘head’, German schwarz + Kopf.

SCHWARZ 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant spelling of Schwartz. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with black hair or a dark complexion, from Middle High German swarz, German schwarz, Yiddish shvarts ‘dark’, ‘black’. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

SCHWIRMAN

SCHWITZ 

SCHWIZER 

SECHER 

SEGENREICH 

SEIDNER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Seidler. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a silk weaver, from an agent derivative of Middle High German side, German Seide ‘silk’.

SELLNER 

  • South German: from Middle High German seldener ‘inhabitant of a selde’, i.e. a hut with a small kitchen-garden, but no agricultural land attached.

SEMMLER 

  • German: variant of Semler. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a baker of white rolls, from an agent derivative of Middle High German semel, German Semmel, Yiddish zeml ‘white bread roll’ (from Middle High German semel(e), simel ‘fine wheat flour’). Such rolls were in contrast to the coarse rye bread that was and is the norm in many households.

SILBERBUSCH 

SILBERHERZ 

SILBERLICHT 

SILBERSCHLAG 

SILBERSLAG 

SILBERSTEIN

  • German: from Middle High German silber ‘silver’ + stein ‘stone’; a habitational name from a place so named in Bavaria, or a topographic name.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Silber ‘silver’ + Stein ‘stone’.

SIMCHA 

SIMON 

  • English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish (Simón), Czech and Slovak (Šimon), Slovenian, Hungarian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the personal name, Hebrew Shim‘on, which is probably derived from the verb sham‘a ‘to hearken’. In the Vulgate and in many vernacular versions of the Old Testament, this is usually rendered Simeon. In the Greek New Testament, however, the name occurs as Simon, as a result of assimilation to the pre-existing Greek byname Simon (from simos ‘snub-nosed’). Both Simon and Simeon were in use as personal names

SIMOREL

SINDEROWITZ

SINGER 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a cantor in a synagogue, from Yiddish zinger ‘singer’.
  • German: variant of Sänger in the sense of ‘poet’.

SIROTA

  • Jewish (from Ukraine and Polish): nickname from Ukrainian syrota ‘orphan’.

SITTLER

  • German: topographic name for someone who lived in a place where water collected, from sütte(l) ‘puddle’, ‘pool’ + the suffix -er denoting an inhabitant.

SLOCZOWER 

SMERTH 

SOICHER 

SOIFER 

  • Jewish (from Ukraine and Poland): variant of Soffer, Jewish: occupational name for a scribe, Hebrew sofer, Yiddish soyfer.

SOMMER 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Sommer ‘summer’. Like the other seasonal names, this was also one of the group of names that were bestowed on Jews more or less at random by government officials in 18th- and 19th-century central Europe.

SOMMERFREUND 

SONTAG 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant spelling of Sonntag. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German sun(nen)tac, German Sonntag ‘Sunday’, a nickname for someone who had some particular connection with Sunday. The German surname may have arisen from a personal name for a child born on a Sunday, for this was considered a lucky day. Among Jews, it seems to have been one of the group of names referring to days of the week that were distributed at random by government officials.

SPASSER 

SPORN

  • German: possibly from Middle High German sporn ‘to spur’; of uncertain application.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Sporn ‘spur’.

SRAIBER

STANGER

  • German: occupational name for a maker of shafts for spears and the like, from an agent derivative of Middle High German stange ‘pole’, ‘shaft’.

STARK

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a strong, bold person, from Middle High German stark(e), German stark ‘strong’, ‘brave’.

STAUBER

  • German (also Stäuber) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from Staub, with the addition of the German agent suffix -er. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational nickname for a miller, from Middle High German stoup, German Staub ‘dust’. The Jewish surname may also be ornamental.

STECHER

  • German: occupational name for someone who castrated farm livestock, Middle High German stechære.

STECKEL

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German steckel and Yiddish shtekl ‘little stick’, hence perhaps a nickname for a thin person.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Stöckel ‘outhouse’.

STECOLCIC 

STEENER 

STEIER 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Yiddish shtayer ‘impost’, ‘duty’.

STEIGER 

  • Variant of Steger. German: topographic name for someone who lived by a path or by a plank bridge, from an agent derivative of Middle High German stec ‘steep path or track’, ‘narrow bridge’.
  • Occupational name from Middle High German stiger ‘foreman’, ‘mine inspector’.
  • habitational name for someone from Steige in Alsace.

STEIN

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Stein ‘rock’, Middle High German stein, hence a topographic name either for someone who lived on stony ground or for someone who lived by a notable outcrop of rock or by a stone boundary marker or monument. It could also be a metonymic occupational name for a mason or stonecutter, or, among Jews, an ornamental name. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

STEINER

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for someone who worked with stone: a quarryman, stonecutter, or stonemason; an agent derivative of Stein.
  • Topographic name for someone who lived on stony ground or near a prominent outcrop of rock.

STEINHORN

STERN

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German stern, German Stern ‘star’, a habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a star, or a Jewish ornamental name. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe. In Slovenia it is commonly spelled Štern.

STERNBERG

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from any of various places so named all over Germany.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Stern ‘star’ + Berg ‘mountain’, ‘hill’.

STERNLIB

STIEBER

  • German: nickname, possibly for a coward, from an agent derivative of Middle High German stiuben ‘to run away’.
  • Variant of Stuber, German: habitational name for someone from a place called Stuben in Württemberg.
  •  Variant of Stuber, German: occupational name for the owner/operator of a public gathering place or room, such as a guild room, tavern, or inn, from Middle High German stube ‘heatable room’ + the agent suffix -er.
  • Variant of Stoever, North German (Stöver): from Middle Low German (bad)stover ‘bather’ or ‘worker at a public bathhouse’, mainly an occupational name, but occasionally perhaps a nickname for a dedicated bather.

STIER

  • German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German, Middle Dutch stier, German Stier ‘bull’, ‘bullock’, hence a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal in some way or a metonymic occupational name for someone who tended cattle.

STIMMER 

SUCHER

  • German: from Middle High German suocher ‘searcher’, ‘investigator’, ‘pursuer’, an agent derivative of suochen ‘to seek (out)’, probably an occupational nickname for a huntsman.
  • Respelling of Jewish (from Lithuania) Zukher, a nickname from a derivative of Yiddish zukhn ‘to seek’.

SURKIS 

SURP 

SÜSSMANN

  • German (Süssmann): elaborated form of Suess, literally ‘sweet man’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Zusman, literally ‘sweet man’.

SZYMBORSK 

TABAK 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a seller of tobacco, from German Tabak, Yiddish and Ukrainian tabik (all ultimately from Spanish tabaco, a word of Caribbean origin). Tobacco was introduced to Europe in the 16th century.

TÄGERMAN 

TALER 

TANNENBAUM 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): German topographic name or Jewish ornamental name from German Tannenbaum ‘fir tree’, ‘pine tree’.

TENNENHAUS 

TARTER 

  • German: unexplained.

TAU

TAUB

  • Variant of Taube. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Taube ‘pigeon’, ‘dove’ (Middle High German tube). The German name is either a metonymic occupational name for a keeper of doves or pigeons or a nickname for a mild and gentle person; the Jewish surname is ornamental.
  • Variant of Taube. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish female personal name Toybe (from Yiddish toyb ‘dove’).
  • Nickname for a deaf person, from Middle High German toup, German taub ‘deaf’. The adjective also had the sense ‘dull’, ‘stupid’, and this may lie behind some examples of the German name.

TAUBER

  • German: variant of Taube ‘pigeon’, ‘dove’. The -er inflection denotes the male bird, but in most cases this is an occupational name for a pigeon breeder, from an agent noun derivative ending in -er(t).
  • German: occupational name for a player of the horn or a similar musical instrument, Middle High German toubære.

TENNENHAUS

THUMIM

TISCHLER

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a joiner, from an agent derivative of Middle High German tisch, German Tisch ‘table’. This became the normal term for the craftsman in northern and eastern Germany and in Austria and Switzerland during the 15th century; before that it had been Tischer

TRAGERMANN

TREBITSCH

TRESSER

TRICHTER

TUCHMANN

USCHER

  • Jewish (from Poland and Ukraine): from a southern Yiddish pronunciation of the Yiddish male personal name Osher (Hebrew Asher).

VOGEL

  • German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a happy person or someone who liked to sing, or a metonymic occupational name for a bird catcher, from Middle High German, Middle Low German vogel ‘bird’. This name is found throughout central Europe, not only in German-speaking lands.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish female personal name Foygl

WACHSTEIN

WÄCHTER

  • German and Dutch: occupational name for a watchman, from Middle High German wachtære, wehtære, Middle Dutch wacht(e)re, German Wachter ‘watchman’, ‘guard’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Wachter ‘watchman’, perhaps an occupational name by a synagogue beadle (Yiddish shames).

WAGNER

  • German (also Wägner) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a carter or cartwright, from an agent derivative of Middle High German wagen ‘cart’, ‘wagon’, German Wagen. The German surname is also well established in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere as well as in German-speaking countries.

WAHRSINGER 

WALD

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Wald ‘forest’. Very few Jews would have been living anywhere near a forest at the time when they acquired surnames, so as a Jewish name its origins are unlikely to be topographic.

WALDMANN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Yiddish wald ‘forest’ + man ‘man’. Very few Jews would have been living anywhere near a forest at the time when they acquired surnames, so in most cases this is probably an ornamental name. In other cases it many be a metonymic occupational name for someone whose job was connected with forestry, such as a woodcutter or lumber merchant.

WALER

WALLFISCH

WALZER

  • South German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name, a reduced form of Walzenmüller, denoting a miller who milled by means of rollers, Middle High German walze, German Walze ‘roller’.

WARTER

WASSERMANN

  • German (Wassermann) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): German topographic name or Jewish ornamental or occupational name from Middle High German wazzer, German Wasser, Yiddish vaser ‘water’ + Middle High German -man ‘man’, Yiddish –man

WEGLER

WEIGEL

  • German: from a widespread medieval pet form of the personal name Wigand, German: from the Germanic personal name Wigant, originally a byname meaning ‘warrior’, from the present participle of wigan ‘to fight’.

WEIKSELBLAT

WEINBERG

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from a place called Weinberg or Weinberge, of which there are numerous examples, especially in Austria and Bavaria.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Wein ‘wine’ + Berg ‘mountain’, ‘hill’.

WEINFELD

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental compound from German Wein ‘wine’ + Feld ‘field’.

WEINGARTEN

  • South German: topographic name for someone living near a vineyard, from Middle High German wingart, or a habitational name from any of numerous places named Weingarten.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Weingarten ‘vineyard’

WEISER

  • Nickname for a wise man, from an agent derivative of Middle High German wisen ‘to teach’.
  • Variant of Weisser. German: occupational name for a painter or plasterer, from an agent derivative of Middle High German wizen ‘to make white’, ‘to whitewash’.
  • Variant of Weisser. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with white hair or an exceptionally pale complexion, from an inflected form of Middle High German wiz ‘white’, German weiss.

WEISS

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with white hair or a remarkably pale complexion, from Middle High German wiz ‘white’, German weiss.

WEISSBROD

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with white hair or a remarkably pale complexion, from Middle High German wiz ‘white’, German weiss.

WEISSMANN

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with white hair or a pale complexion, from German weiss ‘white’ + Mann.

WELT

  • German: habitational name from a place so named in Schleswig-Holstein.
  • Jewish: ornamental name from German Welt ‘world’.

WENGER

  • German: habitational name for someone from any of various places in Bavaria named Weng or Wengen.

WENKERT 

WERK 

  • German: nickname for an artisan or craftsman, from Middle High German werc(h) ‘work’, ‘craft’.

WERNER 

  • German: from a personal name composed of the Germanic elements war(in) ‘guard’ + heri, hari ‘army’.

WERPOLLER 

WERSINGER

WESCHLER 

  • German: variant of Wäscher. occupational name for a washer, from an agent derivative of Middle High German waschen, weschen ‘to wash’. Numerous trades involved washing processes

WIDMANN 

  • Variant of Wiedmann ‘huntsman’.
  • Variant of Wideman, German (Widemann): from the Germanic personal name Widiman, composed of witu ‘wood’ or wit ‘wide’, ‘broad’ + man ‘man’.

WINDISCH 

  • German: ethnic name from windisch ‘Slovenian’. This surname is found mainly in Austria and in Slovenia itself, where it is commonly spelled Vindiš.

WINKLER 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic name for someone who lived on a corner or occupational name for someone who kept a corner shop or farmed a corner of land, from an agent derivative of Winkel. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, being found for example as a Czech, Polish, Slovenian, and Hungarian name.

WINNINGER 

  • German: variant of Weininger, Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Wein ‘wine’ + the suffix -inger.

WINTER 

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Winter ‘winter’, either an ornamental name or one of the group of names denoting the seasons, which were distributed at random by government officials.

WITZ

  • From the medieval personal name Witzo, a short form of any of several Germanic compound names beginning with wig ‘battle’.
  • Variant of Witzig. German: nickname from Middle High German witzic ‘clever’, ‘prudent’, ‘knowing’.

WIZNITZER

  • A man from Vyzhnytsia (old german name: Wiznitz) (German: Wischnitza), in north Bukovina

WOLF

  • German: habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a wolf, Middle High German wolf.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish male personal name Volf meaning ‘wolf’, which is associated with the Hebrew personal name Binyamin. This association stems from Jacob’s dying words ‘Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil’ (Genesis 49:27).

WOLFER

  • from a reduced form of the Germanic personal names Wolfher or Wolfhart, composed of the elements wolf ‘wolf’ + hari ‘army’ or hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’.
  • topographic name for someone who lived in a place frequented by wolves, Middle High German wolf, or a habitational name from a place named with this word.

WOLKOWITZ

WOLLACH

WUCHER

WURM

  • German: nickname from Middle High German wurm, Middle Low German worm ‘worm’, ‘snake’, ‘dragon’, ‘mythical beast’.

ZACHMANN

  • German: nickname from Middle High German zach ‘tenacious’, ‘stubborn’.

ZAPPLER 

ZEIGER

  • occupational name for a sign maker, from Middle High German zeiger ‘sign’, ‘guide’, ‘sign at an inn’.
  • Altered spelling of German Seiger, reflecting the German pronunciation of the initial s, or of Zieger.

ZELIGMAN

ZIMMER

  • German: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter, either from Middle High German zim(b)er, zimmer ‘wood’, ‘wooden building’ or a shortening of Zimmermann
  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a carpenter, Middle High German zimbermann (a compound of zimber, zim(m)er ‘timber’, ‘wood’ + mann ‘man’), German Zimmermann.

ZINN 

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a worker in pewter, Middle High German zin; German Zinn, Yiddish tsin.

ZLOCZOWER  

ZOREF 

ZWECKER  

 

* Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4


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