Origin
Carpenter : 1: English (southern): occupational name for a worker in wood Norman French carpentier (from Late Latin carpentarius ‘cartwright’).2: Americanized form (translation into English) of German Zimmermann French Charpentier Italian Carpentieri or cognates and equivalents in various other languages.
Axt : German: metonymic occupational name for a woodcutter carpenter or maker of axes from Middle High German ackes axt- ‘axe’.
Axtmann : German: occupational name for a woodcutter carpenter or maker of axes from Middle High German ackes axt- ‘axe’ + man ‘man’.
Balk : 1: German: from a pet form of a Slavic equivalent of the personal name Valentinus (see Valentine).2: Dutch and German: from balk balke ‘timber beam’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter or a nickname for a big man.3: English (Yorkshire): variant of Baulk from Middle English balke ‘ridge or bank created by plowing’ (Old English balca) or a habitational name from a place called with this word for example Balk near Thirsk in the North Yorkshire.
Balkema : Dutch (mainly Groningen):: 1: patronymic formed with the Frisian suffix -ma ‘(one of the) men of’ from the personal name Balke a pet form of Bal.2: nickname for a carpenter from balk ‘beam’ (see Balk) composed with the same Frisian suffix as in 1 above.3: habitational name for someone from the hamlet Balk near Grotegast the village Balk in Gaasterland Balkbrug (Ooststellingwerf) or Balkend (Leeuwarderadeel).
Bard : 1: English (of Norman origin) and French: from the Old French personal name Bard(e) ancient Germanic Bardo from barta ‘battle axe’. This was borne as a surname by a prominent Norman family with lands in west Normandy and in various English and Scottish counties including Essex Hertfordshire North Yorkshire Northumberland and Lanarkshire. In Scotland the original family were Norman landowners in Strathaven parish in Lanarkshire. They were descended from the Baards lords of Loftus in the North Yorkshire descendants of the mid 12th-century Richard Baart.2: Irish: altered form of either Beard or Baird.3: Scottish: from Gaelic bàrd ‘poet minstrel’. See Baird.4: French: nickname from Old French baard ‘sedan chair; stretcher’ probably denoting the owner of such a device.5: French: from Old French bart (from Late Latin barrum) ‘mud clay (used as a mortar)’ probably applied as a metonymic occupational name for a bricklayer.6: French: habitational name from any of several minor places called Bard from the Gaulish element barro ‘height hill’.7: Hungarian (Bárd): metonymic occupational name for a butcher woodcutter or carpenter from bárd ‘hatchet cleaver’.8: Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with a luxurious beard from a blend of German Bart and Yiddish bord both meaning ‘beard’.9: Probably also an altered form of German Bart.
Beil : German: from Middle High German Middle Low German bīl ‘axe’ hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who made or used axes and similar implements in particular a carpenter.
Benker : German:: 1: occupational name for a carpenter from Middle High German banc ‘bench’ + -er agent suffix.2: habitational name for someone from a place called Benk of which there are several examples in Bavaria or from either of two places in Switzerland named Benken in Basel and Zurich cantons.
Bijl : Dutch:: 1: from the female personal name Bijl a short form of Amabilia (see Mabile) or Sibilia (see Sibley).2: metonymic occupational name for a maker of axes or adzes or for someone who professionally used an axe for instance a carpenter or butcher from bijl ‘axe adze’. Compare Byl and Byle.
Bille : 1: Danish: from the Old Norse personal name Bille meaning ‘axe hatchet’.2: German (mainly North Rhine-Westphalia) and Danish (of German origin): nickname for someone with a conspicuous bottom from Middle Low German bille ‘buttock’.3: French Walloon and Flemish: from Old French bille ‘block piece of tree trunk; stick plank’ (a word of Gaulish origin) probably used as a metonymic occupational name for a sawyer or a carpenter joiner.
Board : English: occupational name or nickname from Middle English bord(e) ‘board plank table’ denoting a carpenter or sawyer a maker of boards and planks or perhaps a nickname for a tall thin person.
Boardman : English (Lancashire): occupational name from Middle English bord(e) ‘board plank table’ + man for a carpenter sawyer or a maker of boards and planks. Compare Board.
Boehmke : North German (Böhmke): from a diminutive of Middle Low German bōm which in addition to meaning ‘tree’ was also used to denote a beam or joist so that the name may have been either topographic or a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter.
Boenker : German (Bönker):: 1: occupational name for a carpenter a rounded form of Benker.2: alternatively perhaps a derivative of Bonk.
Bohlmann : 1: North German (Böhlmann): enlarged form of Bohl 2; or in some cases a variant of Bühlmann itself a variant of Bühl see Buehl.2: North German: from Middle Low German bōle ‘plank beam’ + man ‘man’ hence an occupational name for a carpenter or a topographic name for someone who lived by a board walk.
Brett : 1: English: ethnic name for a Breton from Old French bret nominative of breton ‘Breton’. The Bretons were Celtic-speakers driven from southwestern England to northwestern France in the 6th century AD by Anglo-Saxon invaders; some of them reinvaded England in the 11th century as part of the army of William the Conqueror. In France and among Normans Bretons had a reputation for stupidity and in some cases this name and its variants and cognate may have originated as derogatory nicknames. The English surname is most common in East Anglia where many Bretons settled after the Conquest. In Scotland it may also have denoted a member of one of the Celtic-speaking peoples of Strathclyde who were known as Bryttas or Brettas well into the 13th century.2: German: metonymic occupational name from Middle Low German bret ‘board’ for a sawyer or carpenter or from a shortened compound like Brettschneider Bretthauer.3: French: very rare variant and probably an Americanized form of Bret a cognate of 1 above.
Brisebois : French: from brise bois ‘breaks wood’ (from Old French briser ‘to break’ + bois ‘wood’) used as a nickname for a carpenter. This surname is rare in France. Compare Brisbois.
Bylsma : West Frisian: variant mostly Americanized (or archaic) of Bijlsma a cognate of Dutch Bijl at least in one case adopted as a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter.
Charpentier : French: occupational name for a worker in wood a carpenter Old French charpentier (from Late Latin carpentarius ‘cartwright’). This surname was also brought to England by Huguenot refugees.
Chipp : 1: English: from Middle English chip chippe ‘small piece of wood chipped or cut off’ possibly a nickname given to a carpenter or a woodcutter to a small person or to a youngster resembling his father (‘a chip off the old block’).2: English and Scottish: occasionally perhaps a variant of Cheape either a nickname from Middle English chepe ‘bargaining bargain price’ probably given to a merchant or trader or possibly a habitational name from Cheapside a broad street in London in which markets were held recorded as Chepe in medieval documents.
Decker : 1: German: occupational name for a roofer (thatcher tiler slater or shingler) or a carpenter or builder from an agent derivative of Middle High German decke ‘covering’ a word which was normally used to refer to roofs but sometimes also to other sorts of covering; modern German Decke still has the twin senses ‘ceiling’ and ‘blanket’.2: Dutch: variant of Dekker cognate with 1 above. Compare De Decker.3: English (London): variant of Dicker.
Deur : 1: Possibly an altered form of Scottish Dewar.2: Dutch: possibly an altered form of German Dörr see Dorr or a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter particularly a door maker from Middle Dutch dore modern Dutch deur ‘door’ or a habitational name (compare Van Deur Van der Deure Van Deuren) possibly from a place called with doornen ‘thorns’.
Disch : German:: 1: from the ancient Germanic personal name Teuzo (see Dietz).2: metonymic occupational name for a joiner carpenter or cabinet maker from Middle High German tisch (from Latin discus) ‘table disc’.
Discher : North German and East German: occupational name for a carpenter or joiner Middle Low German discher from disch ‘table’. Compare Tischler.
Dolin : 1: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): habitational name from any of several places in Ukraine and Belarus called Dolina from Slavic dolina ‘valley’.2: Irish: altered form of Dolan.3: French: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter from a derivative of doler ‘to shave or plane’.
Fader : 1: German: possibly a nickname from Old High German (or modern Low German) fader ‘father’ or alternatively an occupational name for a carpenter who fashioned roof beams from pfate ‘beam timber’.2: Possibly also an Americanized form of German Feder.
Fath : 1: German: variant of Vogt.2: German: topographic name for someone living near a grass- or moss-covered spot or an enclosure Middle High German vate vade.3: German: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter who made roof trusses from phate ‘roof beam’ a derivative of medieval Latin patena.4: Muslim (mainly Egypt and Maghreb): from the Arabic personal name Fatḥ ‘victory’.
Gadbois : French: variant of Gadebois itself an altered form of Gâtebois an unflattering nickname from gâte bois ‘spoils wood’ used for a carpenter or woodworker. In North America this has been rendered as Wood 3 and Woods 3 in English.
Holler : 1: English: nickname from Middle English holere ‘one who bores holes’ perhaps used for a carpenter.2: English: topographic name denoting someone who lived ‘(in the) hollow’ from an agent derivative of Middle English hole ‘hollow’.3: German: topographic name for someone living in a hollow or a wooded ravine from Middle High German Middle Low German hol (see Holl 1).4: German and Danish: variant of Holder 1.5: German (Höller): see Hoeller.
Jobber : 1: perhaps from a reduced form of the Middle English (Old French) personal name Jo(i)bert; compare Joubert. This is suggested by the Staffs location of modern Jobber where other variants of Jobert may survive in the names of Mary Jobet 1718 in IGI (Lichfield Staffs) Samuell Jobett 1730 in IGI (Derby Derbys) Thomas Jobbitt 1774 in IGI (Walsall Staffs) and Sarah Jobbard 1822 in IGI (Darlaston Staffs). See also Jobin and Jobborn which have Staffs associations and may be pet form of Jobert. Some of the following early bearers may alternatively belong under (2) or (3). 2: from Middle English jobber of uncertain meaning. Richard le Jobbere (1277–8 in a copy dated 1662) was a carpenter paid for working and making huts at Vale Royal Abbey near Northwich Cheshire. The name might be a derivative of job ‘a piece of work’ though the word is not recorded in OED before the mid-16th century; hence ‘pieceworker’ perhaps. Other examples of the name might be derivatives of Middle English jobben ‘to peck or poke (something)’ (with a mattock perhaps) or of Middle English jubbe jobbe ‘a large vessel for holding liquids’ hence ‘maker and seller of jubbs’. 3: perhaps from a reduced form of Middle English jobard ‘fool’.
Kist : 1: German and Dutch: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter manufacturer of wooden boxes and chests from Middle High German kiste ‘(clothes) chest’ Dutch kist ‘box chest coffin’.2: German: habitational name from Kist near Würzburg in Bavaria.3: German: Westphalian variant of Kirst.
Kistner : German: occupational name for a cabinet maker or carpenter from Middle High German kistener an agent derivative of kiste ‘(clothes) chest’. Compare Kastner. See also Kistler.
Klingbeil : German: from Middle High German klingen ‘to ring or sound’ + bīl ‘axe’ literally ‘sound the axe’ a metonymic occupational name for a journeyman carpenter shipwright (or any occupation involving the use of an axe). Journeymen's names often contained a humorous element as they were bestowed at merry promotion parties or ‘christenings’ held to celebrate the recipients successful completion of their apprenticeship.
Lattner : 1: English: variant of Latimer.2: German: occupational name for a carpenter who prepared or used laths or slats from Middle High German latte ‘slat lath’ + -n (plural suffix) + the agent suffix -er.
Latty : 1: Scottish: altered form of Latta.2: Swiss French: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter who used laths or slats derived from Old French lattis ‘lathwork’.
Madeira : Portuguese:: 1: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter from madeira ‘wood timber’ (from Late Latin materia from classical Latin materies ‘material substance’).2: perhaps also a habitational name from the island of Madeira which was named with Portuguese madeira ‘timber’ because of the timber that grew there. The island was colonized in the 15th century under the patronage of Prince Henry the Navigator.
Mader : 1: English: variant of Madder an occupational name for a dyer or seller of dye from Middle English mader madour mather shortened forms of Middle English maderer maderour matherer ‘seller of madder’ or ‘dyer who used madder’. Mader or mather (Old English mædere Old Norse mathra) was the name for the plant Rubia tinctorum used medicinally and for making red dye. It was also a word for red dye made from other sources. Compare Mather.2: German and Swiss German (also Mäder) Dutch and French (Lorraine): occupational name for a reaper or mower Middle High German māder mæder Middle Dutch mader. Compare Moder.3: French: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter from Occitan madier ‘beam’.
Micklewright : from (W Midlands) Middle English mikel ‘large tall’ + wriht ‘craftsman carpenter joiner maker of machinery’ (compare Mitchell (2) Wright).
Najar : 1: Spanish: most probably a habitational name from Najar Alicante. Alternatively it may be an occupational name for a carpenter of Arabic origin (see below).2: Arabic and Jewish (Sephardic): variant of Najjar 1 ‘carpenter’. Arabic bearers of this surname are both Muslims and Christians. This form of the surname is also found in Iran (see Najjar 2).3: Assyrian/Chaldean: occupational name from najār ‘carpenter’. Compare Najjar 1 and Najor.
Najarian : 1: Armenian: patronymic from an occupational name for a carpenter from Turkish nacar itself from Arabic najjār. This form of the surname is found mainly in Iran (see also 2 below) US and Lebanon; in Armenia it is spelled (transliterated) Najaryan.2: Iranian: variant of Najjarian a cognate of 1 above from a word of Persian and ultimately of Arabic origin (see Najjar 2). It is formed with the suffix -ian ‘descendant of’ which is common in both the surnames of Persian and Armenian origin.
Najor : Assyrian/Chaldean: occupational name for a carpenter a variant of Najar.
Pickel : 1: South German: metonymic occupational name for someone who made or used pickaxes or a nickname for a gambler; a variant of Bickel.2: Dutch: from Middle Dutch pickel ‘leg’ hence a nickname for someone with long or otherwise remarkable legs or a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter.3: Americanized or Germanized form of Slovenian Pikelj Pikel or Pikl: from pikelj a word of South German origin (see above and Bickel) denoting a kind of pick used by miners.4: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from Pikeli in Lithuania.
Pinchin : from the Old French personal name Pinçun Normano-Picard Pinchon apparently derived from Old French pinçon ‘finch’. Spellings with -ch- and -s- are often interchangeable as late as the 17th century. Pinchon or Pinson also sometimes alternated with Punchon (see Puncheon) but it it is not known if the two names were genuine phonetic variants or were merely confused with each other. In 1381 Poll Tax Agn' Pynchon and Nicholao Punchun are both listed for Harnhill and Driffield (Gloucs). In 1513-18 the manor of Oxhey Richard in Watford (Herts) was surrendered by Stephen Ponchon alias Pynson of London carpenter (TNA C 1/511/28). This is no doubt the same man as Steven Punchon 1536 in PROB 11 (London). For the change in vowel compare Pinchard for Punchard.Pinchon was reinforced in the 16th and 17th centuries by Huguenot migrants from NE France.
Plank : 1: English (Wiltshire and London): from Middle English plank(e) plaunke ‘plank stiff board; footbridge’ (from Late Latin planca). The surname may be topographic for someone who lived by a footbridge or it may refer to their appearance or occupation such as a tall thin person or a carpenter.2: North German: nickname for a cantankerous person from Middle Low German plank ‘quarrel discord’.3: North German: metonymic occupational name from Middle Low German plank ‘measure for liquids’.4: South German: topographic name from Middle High German plank ‘plank palisade’.5: South German: nickname for a fair-haired man from a variant of Middle High German blanc ‘light shining’.6: Dutch (also Van der Plank): topographic name for someone living by a plank ‘footbridge’.
Planner : from either Middle English planer(e) ‘tool for smoothing plane’ or an agent derivative of planen ‘to smooth cut plane’ probably denoting a carpenter.
Plott : 1: English: from Middle English plot(te) ploth ‘small area plot of ground’ for one who lived or worked at such a place.2: German and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a fence maker or carpenter from a Germanized form of Slavic plot (Polish płot) ‘fence’. Compare Plotnik.
Pudlo : Polish (Pudło): from pudło ‘box’ presumably a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter or chest maker. However it may be a nickname from the same word in the derogatory sense ‘old frump’.
Roubal : 1: Czech: nickname from the past participle of the old or dialect word roubat ‘to hew to cut down (a tree)’ applied to someone who worked with an axe or perhaps to a carpenter.2: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from a pet form of Reuben or possibly an artificial name from Russian rubl ‘rouble’ the Russian unit of currency.
Scardina : Italian: probably from a diminutive of southern Italian scarda ‘splinter chip’ (from ancient Germanic skard- probably of Langobardic origin) hence a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter or woodcutter.
Scarpello : Italian (southern):: 1: from a diminutive of Scarpa.2: from a regional variant of scalpello ‘chisel’ used perhaps to denote a carpenter or stonemason.
Schaab : 1: South German: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter from Middle High German schabe ‘plane scraper’.2: South German: habitational name from Schaab in Bohemia.3: Dutch: variant of Schaap.
Schaaf : 1: German: variant of Schaf.2: Dutch: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter from schaaf ‘plane’. Compare Vanderschaaf 2.
Schaafsma : West Frisian and Dutch: occupational name for a carpenter from schaaf ‘plane’ composed with the Frisian suffix -ma which originally denoted ‘(one of the) men of’.
Schabel : South German: probably a nickname for a barber or carpenter from Middle High German schaben ‘to scrape’ (see Schaber).
Schaber : German: from an agent derivative of schaben ‘to scrape to shave’ (Middle High German schaben) hence an occupational name for a carpenter or a barber (compare Schaab).
Schaver : Dutch: occupational name for a carpenter from an agent derivative of schaaf ‘plane’ (see Schaaf) or from the Dutch verb schaven ‘to plane’.
Scheibe : German:: 1: topographic name from Middle High German schībe ‘disk sphere wheel’ commonly used as a field name.2: metonymic occupational name for a craftsman who uses or produces disk(s) or wheel(s) like a potter carpenter or glazier from the same word as 1 above.3: habitational name from any of the places called Scheibe or Scheiben.
Scherber : German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from an agent derivative of Middle High German and German scherben ‘to cut into small pieces to shave off’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter tailor or the like.
Schleis : German: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter or woodcutter in particular one whose job was to split wood from Middle High German sleiss ‘wood shaving’ or sleissen ‘to split’.
Schrage : 1: German: nickname for a tall thin person from Middle High German schrage ‘rack stand’ or from the same word in Middle Low German meaning ‘scrawny’.2: German: from Middle High German Middle Low German schrage ‘slanting’ by extension used to refer to a market stall or to a work bench with crossed legs hence a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter or a stallholder.3: Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Shrage meaning ‘candle’ in Aramaic.
Schraub : German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German schrūbe Middle Low German schrūve ‘screw nail peg rivet’; German Schraube ‘screw’; probably a metonymic occupational name for someone who made and sold this hardware or for a carpenter.
Spahn : German:: 1: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter or for a roofer who applied wooden shingles from Middle German spān ‘chip shaving splinter’.2: nickname for a skinny person.
Span : 1: German: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter a variant of Spahn.2: German: nickname for a quarrelsome person a variant of Spann.3: Slovenian (Špan): from špan a feudal status name for a serf chosen by an overlord to oversee other serfs and villeins working on the overlord's estate. This was also a status name for a village headman. The word in both senses is ultimately derived from Slovenian/Slavic župan (see Zupan).4: Slovenian (Špan): nickname from archaic špan ‘fellow companion’ also ‘sweetheart’ a word of German (Bavarian) origin.5: Czech (Špán): nickname for a thin man from špán ‘wood chip’ a dialect word of German origin (see 7).6: Slovak and Rusyn (from Slovakia) (Špan): historical status name from a Slavicized form of Hungarian ispán (itself a derivative of Slavic župan; see Zupan compare 3 above) in old Hungary a title denoting the highest royal official standing at the head of the manor.7: Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname or artificial name from German Span ‘wood chip’.
Sparr : 1: English: topographic name for someone who lived by an enclosure Middle English sparre.2: German: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter from Middle Low German spar ‘beam rafter’.
Stender : German: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter from Middle Low German stender ‘post (of a timber-framed building)’.
Stenger : German: occupational name for a post maker or a carpenter from Middle High German stange ‘pole’. Compare Stender.
Stoll : 1: German: from Middle High German Middle Low German stolle ‘prop support frame’ or ‘tunnel in a mine’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter or miner; or a nickname for a clumsy or coarse person.2: Jewish (from Belarus): metonymic occupational name for a smith from Yiddish dialect stol shtol ‘steel’.3: Jewish (American): shortened form of some original eastern Ashkenazic surname.4: English: nickname for someone who made wore or sold stoles from Middle English stole ‘stole’. Compare Stoller 3.
Stollenwerk : German (Rhineland):: 1: metonymic occupational name for a furrier from Middle Low German stōlwerk ‘furriery’.2: from Middle High German stolle ‘prop support’ + werk ‘work’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter especially one who made pit props.
Stoloff : Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): westernized form of Stolov from Slavic stol (Polish stól) ‘table’ most probably a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter who made tables but possibly also for a servant at table which is the meaning of the cognate Polish surname Stołowy.
Struzik : Polish: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter someone who used a plane from a diminutive agent noun from strug ‘plane’.
Subia : 1: Spanish: variant of Zubia.2: Italian (Sicily): possibly from subbia ‘chisel awl’ presumably used to denote a carpenter or a maker of such tools.
Tange : 1: Danish: habitational name from any of several places called with tange ‘spit tongue of land’.2: Dutch and Flemish: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter or a smith from Middle Dutch tange ‘pliers tongs pincers’.3: Japanese (pronounced as two syllables): written 丹下 ‘red below’ apparently referring to red earth. The name is from village in Kawachi (now Ōsaka-fu) and is mainly found in Shikoku. It can also be pronounced Akashita.
Tesla : Serbian and Croatian; Slovak (Tešla and Tešľa): metonymic occupational name for a carpenter from Serbian and Croatian tesla Slovak tešla ‘adze’.
Timmer : 1: Dutch and North German: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter from Middle Dutch Middle Low German timmer timber ‘timber’.2: North German: from a shortened form of Thiemer a variant of Dittmar.3: North German: habitational name from any of several places called Timmern in Lower Saxony.
Timmerman : 1: Dutch: occupational name for a carpenter or timber merchant from Middle Dutch timmer ‘timber’ + man ‘man’.2: Altered form of German Timmermann. This surname is also found as a rare immigrant name in 19th-century Britain.
Timmermann : North German: occupational name for a carpenter from Middle Low German timberman timmerman ‘carpenter’. Compare German Zimmermann.
Timmers : Dutch: patronymic from an occupational name for a carpenter from Middle Dutch timmer ‘timber’.
Timmreck : North German: probably a shortened form of Timmerhindrich (equivalent to Heinrich Timmer(mann)) a distinguishing occupational name for a carpenter named Heinrich (see Timmer and Heinrich).
Trame : North German: from Middle Low German trame ‘rung of a ladder’ ‘staircase’ or ‘chair’ later ‘beam’ a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter and probably also nickname for a tall stiff person. In Germany this surname occurs around Osnabrück.
Umholtz : German:: 1: topographic name for someone who lived by a forest.2: from unholz ‘waste or refuse wood’ hence probably a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter.3: possibly habitational name from a place called Amholz in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.
Vanderschaaf : Dutch (Van der Schaaf):: 1: habitational name for someone living at a house named De Schaaf (‘The Plane’) probably with a block plane depicted on a shield or a plaque.2: nickname for a carpenter literally ‘man with a plane’ (see Schaaf).
Zimmer : German: metonymic occupational name for a carpenter either from Middle High German zim(b)er zimmer ‘wood wooden building’ or a shortening of Zimmermann.
Zimmerle : South German: occupational name for a carpenter from a diminutive of Zimmer.
Zimmermann : German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a carpenter Middle High German zimberman (a compound of zimber zim(m)er ‘timber wood’ + man ‘man’) German Zimmermann.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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