Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • Dutch : literally ‘runner’, an occupational name for a messenger or for someone who made excursions into the woods. In New Netherland the term Boschlooper was used to denote traders who went out (sometimes literally by running) into the woods to intercept Indians bringing furs to Fort Orange (now part of Albany, NY). The practice was forbidden because of the use of coercion to secure a deal, as happened especially when the trader was on horseback.