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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : from an agent derivative of Middle High German brennen ‘to burn’, in various applications. Often it is an occupational name for a distiller of spirits; it may also refer to a charcoal or lime burner or to someone who cleared forests by burning.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : occupational name for a distiller, from German Brenner, literally ‘burner’ (see 1).
  • English : metathesized variant of Berner 2 and 3.

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