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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : nickname for an eccentric or moody person, from Middle High German wunderlīch ‘odd’, ‘capricious’, ‘unpredictable’ (a derivative of wunder, Old High German wundar ‘puzzle’, ‘marvel’).
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : probably an anecdotal nickname from Yiddish vunderlekh ‘wonderful’, ‘marvellous’, based on some now irrecoverable event, but possibly also a descriptive nickname from German wunderlich ‘odd’, ‘strange’.

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