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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : nickname (especially in the Silesian-Bohemian area) from Czech Vlach ‘foreigner’, denoting specifically someone who spoke a Romance language, in particular an Italian.
  • German : topographic name for someone living in flat terrain, from Middle Low German vlak ‘flat’, or a nickname for a superficial or silly person, from the same word in the sense ‘shallow’.
  • German : metonymic occupational name for a blacksmith, from Middle High German vlach ‘smooth’, ‘straight’. It is recorded as a surname in Bavaria around 1500.

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