Origin
Goldsmith : 1: English: occupational name for a worker in gold from Middle English goldsmith Old English goldsmith ‘goldsmith’ a compound of gold ‘gold’ + smith ‘smith’.2: Americanized form (translation into English) of Jewish (Ashkenazic) and German Goldschmidt and also of its Dutch equivalent Goldsmit.
Babbar : Hindu Mair Rajput name derived from Greek barbaros ‘barbarian member of a primitive cultural group’. Traditionally bearers of this name are members of a goldsmith community.
Bagga : Indian (Punjab): Mair Rajput name traditionally associated with the goldsmith community; from Baghala the name of a tribe of Central Asian origin who came to India in prehistoric times.
Dore : 1: English: nickname from Middle English dore dorre (Old English dora) ‘bee hornet buzzing insect’.2: English: habitational name from either Dore in Derbyshire or Abbey Dore in Herefordshire; see Dorr. In some cases the name may be topographic for someone who lived ‘(at the) gate(way) or door(way)’ Middle English dor(e) (Old English dor).3: Irish: in County Limerick a shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Doghair ‘descendant of Doghar’ a byname meaning ‘sadness’; alternatively according to MacLysaght it could be from De Hóir a name of Norman origin. Outside Limerick it may be from French Doré (see below).4: French (Doré): nickname from Old French doré ‘golden’ (past participle of dorer ‘to gild’ from Late Latin deaurare from aurum ‘gold’) a nickname for someone with golden blond hair or a metonymic occupational name for a goldsmith or gilder (someone skilled in decorating surfaces with a very thin layer of gold). Compare Dorais.5: Hungarian (Dőre): unflattering nickname from dőre ‘stupid useless mad’.
Gilder : English (Essex and Middlesex): occupational name for a goldsmith or gilder from Middle English gilder gelder guldar a derivative of Old English gyldan ‘to gild’.
Goldizen : Americanized form of German Goldeisen a metonymic occupational name for a gold panner or goldsmith from Middle High German gold ‘gold’ + īsen ‘iron’.
Guldner : German (also Güldner): occupational name for someone who worked in gold (for example a goldsmith gilder or jeweler) from Middle Low German Middle High German gulden gülden ‘to gild’.
Offer : 1: English (of Norman origin): occupational name from Middle English orfrer ‘maker of orphrey or gold embroidery’ from Old French orfreis medieval Latin aufrisium a modification of Late Latin auriphyrigium ‘Phrygian gold’ (the Phrygians being famed in antiquity for their gold embroidery). Compare Officer.2: English (of Norman origin): occupational name for a goldsmith from Old French orfevre ‘goldsmith’ (from Latin aurifaber from aurum ‘gold’ + faber ‘maker’). Compare French Fèvre (see Lefevre).3: German: variant of Off.4: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant of Opfer and Hoffer.
Orefice : Italian (southern): occupational name for a goldsmith and by extension a jeweler orefice from Latin aurifex genitive aurificis.
Sayegh : Arabic and Jewish (from Syria and North Africa): occupational name for a goldsmith from Arabic ṣā’igh.
Shergold : for a goldsmith from Middle English sheren ‘to cut’ + gold ‘gold’; sheren could mean ‘to cut or fashion (a ring from gold)’.
Slotnick : Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): occupational name for a goldsmith a variant of Zlotnik.
Steiner : 1: German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): agent derivative of Stein. It is both an occupational name for someone who worked with stone (a quarryman stonecutter or stonemason) and a topographic name for someone who lived on stony ground or near a prominent outcrop of rock. As a Jewish surname it can also be artificial distributed at random by Austrian clerks. This surname is also found elsewhere in Europe e.g. in France (Alsace and Lorraine) Czechia Croatia and Slovenia (see also 4 below).2: German: occupational name from Middle High German steinen ‘to set in precious stones gems boundary stones’ for a goldsmith paver or a land surveyor.3: German: habitational name for someone from any of the places called Steinau.4: Germanized form of various Slavic adaptations of the German surname (see 1 above) such as Czech and Slovenian Šteiner Štajnar and Štajner (see Stainer and Stayner). Compare Stiner.
Treible : Americanized form of German Treibel:: 1: from a diminutive of Traub.2: from Middle High German tribel ‘mallet’ a metonymic occupational name for a cooper goldsmith or silversmith.3: altered form of Triebel.
Zlotnik : Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic; also Złotnik) and Belorussian; Polish (Złotnik); Ukrainian (standard transliteration Zlotnyk): occupational name for a goldsmith Belorussian zlotnik Polish złotnik Ukrainian zlotnyk from zloto ‘gold’. Compare Slotnick.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, ©2021, University of the West of England
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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