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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : topographic name for someone who dwelt in a valley bottom, from an agent derivative of Middle High German boden ‘floor’, ‘bottom’.
  • North German : nickname for someone who lived in a small dwelling, from a derivative of Middle Low German bōde, būde ‘booth’, ‘small house’, ‘cottage’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : topographic name as in 1 or an occupational name from East Yiddish bodner ‘cooper’ (from Belorussian or older Ukrainian bodnár) (see Bodnar).

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