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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English, Dutch, and German : occupational name for a herdsman, someone who tended a herd of domestic animals, Middle English herder, Middle Dutch herder, harde(r), Middle High German herder.
  • German : from the medieval German personal name Herdher, composed of the elements hart ‘strong’ + heri, hari ‘army’.
  • South German : habitational name from either of two places called Herdern: near Freiburg and near Winterthal in Switzerland.

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