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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : from an agent derivative of Middle High German graben ‘to dig or excavate’, hence an occupational name for a digger of graves or ditches, or an engraver of seals. This name is also found in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : occupational name for a grave-digger, either from German Gräber or from a Yiddishized form of Polish grabarz.

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