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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : see Geyer.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : occupational name from Yiddish geyer ‘peddler’ (a derivative of geyn ‘to go’) or in some cases perhaps an unflattering name from German Geier ‘vulture’, as in 1, bestowed by non-Jewish government officials in central Europe at the time when surnames became compulsory.

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