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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German (Gisch) : from a short form of the Germanic personal name Gisulf, from gīsil ‘pledge’, ‘hostage’, ‘noble youth’ (see Giesel) + wolf, wulf ‘wolf’.
  • Matthias Gisch from Assweiler in the Palatinate arrived in Philadelphia in 1733 with a group of Mennonites. From him are descended all American Gish families.

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