Family name origins & meanings
- North German : habitational name from the North German town of Geldern or from the Dutch province of Gelderland, earlier Geler and Gelre. Both places get their names from what may be an ancient element descriptive of marshland.
- German : occupational name for a town crier, Middle High German gellære (from gellen ‘to shout or yell’).
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : nickname for a man with red hair, from the strong form of Yiddish gel ‘red-headed’ (Middle High German gel ‘yellow’). There has been considerable confusion with German gelb ‘yellow’, since the meaning change from ‘yellow’ to ‘red’ took place only in Yiddish and only with reference to people’s complexion or hair coloring.
- Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : variant of Heller 3, originating under Russian influence, since Russian has no h and alters h in borrowed words to g.
- German : variant of Gehler.
- Hungarian : variant of Gellért (see Gellert).