Family name origins & meanings
- German and Dutch : from Dutch and German gans ‘goose’, hence a nickname for a foolish person or a metonymic occupational name for someone who bred or tended geese, or a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a goose.
- German and Dutch : nickname for a healthy or strong person, from Middle Low German gans ‘whole’, ‘complete’, ‘healthy’.