Family name origins & meanings
- German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : metonymic occupational name for a potter, from Middle High German kachel ‘pot’, ‘earthenware vessel’. The surname is common in the Alemannic and Swabian regions. The modern German sense ‘glazed tile’ is a fairly recent development, and probably has not contributed to the surname. Compare Euler, Hafner, and Töpfer (see Toepfer).