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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : from Middle High German ober ‘above’ (or German ober- ‘upper’) + holz ‘wood’ + the suffix -er, denoting an inhabitant, a topographic name for someone who lived above a wood or on the far side of it, or alternatively a habitational name for someone who lived in a place known as Oberholtz (‘upper wood’).

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