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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : nickname for someone with a radiant face or personality, from an agent derivative of Middle High German schīnan ‘to shine or radiate’.
  • German : occupational name for a surveyor, from Middle High German schīner ‘person who issues a document (modern German Schein) or a certificate’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from an inflected form of Schein 2.

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