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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English (mainly northern) : topographic name for someone who lived on a hill or at the rear of a settlement, from Middle English bakke ‘back’, ‘spine’ + man ‘man’. Compare Backer.
  • Swedish : ornamental name composed of the elements back(e) ‘hill’ + man ‘man’.
  • Swedish (Bäck(man)) : ornamental name composed of the elements bäck ‘stream’ + man ‘man’.
  • German : variant of Bachmann.
  • German : occupational name for a baker or employee of a master baker, from backen ‘to bake’ + man(n) ‘man’. Compare Beckmann.

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