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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : topographic name for someone who lived in an area of gravelly land, from Middle High German kiselinc ‘gravel’, a derivative of Old High German kisil ‘pebble’, ‘gravel’ (see Kiesel). There are various minor places named with this word, and the surname may also be a habitational name from any of these.

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