Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • North German : from Middle Low German pann ‘pan’, ‘roof tile’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of either of these items.
  • Altered spelling of German Pfann, a metonymic occupational name for a maker of pans, cognate with 1, from Middle High German pfanne, phanne ‘pan’, or a topographic name for someone living in low lying terrain, in a pan. Pfann sometimes denoted a salt panner.