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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : ornamental name from German Zitrone ‘lemon (tree)’; in some cases it may be a metonymic occupational name as in 2 below.
  • French : from Old French citron ‘lemon’ (from Latin citrus ‘lemon tree’), and so a metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of lemons, or perhaps a nickname for a sharp and disagreeable person.

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