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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German and Swiss German : variant of Gans ‘goose’.
  • German : from a short form of the Germanic personal name Ganso, a cognate of modern German ganz ‘whole’, ‘all’.
  • German : possibly also from an altered form, under Russian influence, of the personal name Hans, a short form of Johannes (see John).
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : ornamental name from German ganz ‘whole’.

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