Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from Yiddish wald ‘forest’ + man ‘man’. Very few Jews would have been living anywhere near a forest at the time when they acquired surnames, so in most cases this is probably an ornamental name. In other cases it many be a metonymic occupational name for someone whose job was connected with forestry, such as a woodcutter or lumber merchant.
  • Americanized spelling of German Waldmann.
  • English : topographic name for a forest dweller, from Old English w(e)ald ‘forest’ + mann ‘man’.