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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : from a medieval personal name, a short form of various Germanic personal names.
  • German : nickname for an unctuous person, from Middle High German hæl(e) ‘secret’, ‘smooth’.
  • German : nickname for a secretive or reclusive person, or topographic name for someone who lived at a remote or concealed spot, from Middle Low German hēle ‘secret’, ‘concealed’.

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