Family name origins & meanings
- South German and Swiss German : topographic name from Middle High German angest ‘narrowness’, i.e. ‘narrow place’ (whence the modern vocabulary word Angst ‘anxiety’, ‘fear’). Bahlow cites an early example, ‘Bertschi an der angist’ (1382), which is clearly topographical, but in other cases Angst may equally well be a nickname for a timid person.