Family name origins & meanings
- German and Swiss German : metonymic occupational name for a catcher or seller of crabs or shellfish or a nickname for someone thought to resemble a crab, perhaps because they had a peculiar gait. The name was certainly standardized from older variants like Krevetes or Krebiss which reflect Middle Low German crevet ‘crab’, ‘shrimp’, as well as Middle High German krebez.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : ornamental name from German Krebs ‘crab’ (see 1).
- Danish : from krebs ‘crayfish’.