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.