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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : byname for someone in the service of a lord and his family, from a genitive plural form of Middle High German her ‘nobleman’, ‘lord’, as in Herrendorf, habitational name for a place near Küstrin; or the nicknameHerrenhans, for someone named John in the service of a nobleman; Herrenknecht, a servant in a noble family; or Herrenschneider, a tailor hired by a nobleman.

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