Family name origins & meanings
- German : of uncertain derivation. It may be a habitational name for someone from a place called Depenau, in Schleswig-Holstein (from Middle Low German deep ‘deep’, ‘low’ + owe ‘low-lying field’). Alternatively, it could be an occupational name for a potter (in west central Germany), from an agent derivative of Middle High German düpfen, tüp(p)en ‘pot’.