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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : occupational name for a turner, from Middle High German dreseler or dræselære (formed by the addition of a superfluous agent suffix to Old High German drāsil ‘turner’, a primary derivative of drāen ‘turn’, ‘spin’). A turner would make small objects not just from wood, but also from bone, ivory, and amber, all of which were widely used in the Middle Ages for their decorative value.

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