Family name origins & meanings
- German : from Middle Low German kreter ‘quarreler’, ‘argumentative person’, ‘legal counsel’, a derivative of Middle Low German krēte ‘discord’, hence a nickname for a quarrelsome person or an occupational name for a legal representative.
- German : variant of Kreider.
- Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : metonymic occupational name for a seller of herbs, from Yiddish krayter ‘herbs’ (see Kraut).