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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Americanized form of German Altdörfer, a habitational name for someone from one of the many places in Switzerland, Austria, and southern Germany called Altdorf ‘old village’.
  • Frederick Alderfer (Friedrich Altdörfer) came to PA in 1733 from Steinsfurt in Kraichgau, Germany; his ancestors were from Fehr-Altdorf, Zürich canton, Switzerland.

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