Family name origins & meanings
- German : topographic name for someone who lived on or near an oak-covered promontory, from Middle High German eich(e) ‘oak’ + horn ‘horn’, ‘promontory’.
- German : from Middle High German eichhorn ‘squirrel’ (from Old High German eihhurno, a compound of eih ‘oak’ + urno, from the ancient Germanic and Indo-European name of the animal, which was later wrongly associated with hurno ‘horn’); probably a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal, or alternatively a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a squirrel.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : ornamental adoption of 2.