Family name origins & meanings
- North German : from a short form of the personal name Degenhar(d)t (see Degenhardt).
- North German : from the personal name Daniel.
- North German : ethnic name for someone from Denmark, from Middle Low German, Danish dene ‘Dane’. In the Middle Ages Denmark extended as far south as the River Eider.
- North German : possibly a topographic name for someone who lived in a hollow, from Middle Low German denne ‘hollow’, ‘shallow valley’.