Family name origins & meanings
- German (Zähler) and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from an agent derivative of German zahlen ‘to count’, Middle High German zalen, hence an occupational name for someone who kept count, i.e. a tallyman or clerk; also, for German, a nickname for a debtor.
- German : from a reduced form of zagel (see Zahl), which also appears as a field name and hence a topographic name.