Family name origins & meanings
- German and Dutch : from Old Low German or Middle Dutch abt ‘abbot’, hence an occupational name for a servant of an abbot or a nickname for someone thought to resemble an abbot in some way. In some instances it may have been from a house name.
- Jewish (central Ashkenazic) : from Abt, the German name of Opatów in Poland, or from Apt, the Yiddish name of this city.